>> hi, everybody. i'm greg perloff, and what a pleasure it is to be involved in this celebration of metallica, and a metallica takeover of san francisco. >> that's right. that's right. that's right. >> you know, it all starts with the music, and the thing about metallica that makes them unique is their fan base and their fan club, and as the word of metallica has spread all these years, people from all over the world are coming to san francisco, staying in hotels, taking different forms

of transportation, and it's a really wonderful economic boost to the city. and one thing about metallica is that they've always been involved with whatever cause is happening, whether it's supporting food banks all these years or when there were the major fires in california. they raised millions of dollars when we supported the people who were devastated up north, and i'm just so pleased to have been able to represent the -- metallica. and i think what makes them big is their authenticity. they are the real deal, and they do what feels right to them. one day, they did a stadium on the green, and the other, they

did a concert in petaluma. whether they do the chase center, this amazing venue in san francisco, they've always been here for everybody. i know you don't want to hear me speak, so let me introduce our amazing mayor, mayor london breed. >> the hon. london breed: well, greg, thank you so much for all you do and what you do to bring entertainment and life to san francisco with so many great events. there is nothing more important to me than having a good time, as i'm sure some of you have noticed on occasion, and san francisco prides itself on being just this amazing space where incredible artists and incredible talent can come to

life. and metallica, i feel they set the stage for that. they set the stage for not only what it means to be extraordinary musicians, extraordinary people, but also how you become embedded in a community where you feel that part of what you owe is to be a part of the fabric of the community by continuously giving back. and so this plan that lars and robert really have for making san francisco shine, i can't ask for anything more from just really revolutionary artists like them, people that are known not just all over the country but all over the world because they have touched people's lives with their music for generations. my aunt saw us on the t.v. one

time, and she's, like, did you get a picture with lars? i've loved him for years? i've loved him since i was a kid. and that's just to say that this group has been just a part of the city of san francisco, and what they are doing not just here but all-around san francisco is going to be transformative. and i other thing i was going to say, i was on my home, taking the route of the divisadero, and i was, like, metallica was performing at the independent? i had to call my friend, mike,

and say mike, was that really metallica playing at the independent? and yes, he said it was really metallica at the independent. as part of this metallica takeover of san francisco includes supporting small businesses in our city. it includes doing a cleanup at the beach and really calling attention to a number of environmental challenges that we have as a city and a country. it calls attention to the need to support city and night life. and in san francisco, i'm proud that we've waived $5 million in fees for night life to see our artists perform all over san francisco. but the attention that metallica brings that takes this up to the next level is what's going to really make

this city shine. you know, we've been through a really tough time. it's been two years of wildfires, seeing the skies turn yellow, the protests and the skies for racial justice, the pandemic, kids who weren't in schools, people who couldn't see their family members. this global pandemic has tested us like nothing else, and what people need now more than ever is hope. hope for the future, hope for what we know is the very best of us, and today, we celebrate that with music, something that brought us together during the pandemic and will continue to bring us together and move forward. so i wanted to take the opportunity and thank metallica for everything that you've

done, for your 40 years of being together, for your commitment and love for this city. you, from my perspective you -- when you talk about san francisco is, you talk about san francisco, you talk about cable cars, and then, you talk about metallica. and on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, i want to officially declare today metallica day in san francisco. [applause] >> metallica day in san francisco bleed breed that means free parking. >> that's right. that's right. >> the hon. london breed: come on, guys. >> follow that friday. okay.

>> the hon. london breed: free parking, free muni rides, get into chase center free. >> that's right. >> the hon. london breed: just wear it on your chest. just tape it on your chest and say, it's my day today. >> that's right. >> the hon. london breed: and thank you so much for what you're going to do with us this weekend. valencia street will be closed this week for all the celebrations. cleanup on ocean beach. you'll have the location of all the festivities, but it is time for us to live. it is time for us to enjoy what i think is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and i can't think metallica enough for committing to san francisco and making this city shine, so thank you so much. >> thank you so much. [applause] >> san francisco's biggest export to the world, right here. god help us all. i want just to say thank you,

mayor breed, thank you, greg, thank you everybody for showing up. the sun is shining, the storms have passed. it's a beautiful thursday. it is metallica day in san francisco. as i'm listening to your wonderful words, i'm thinking about the history. both of you said 40 years. of those who know metallica well, you hear me say this all the time, but we're just getting started, okay? and all our best years are still ahead of us, and we may even actually turn professional soon, so we've got that going for us. and i'm thinking back to those who now our story, and feel free to boo for one second at least. but we didn't start in san francisco, we started in southern california. we came up to san francisco for the first time in 1982, in september, and played at the stone, and subsequently played

at the old waldorf a couple of times, and we had done six, nine months in los angeles, and we did not belong. the reason we all wanted to be in a band was to fit into something greater than ourselves, and we absolutely did not fit into anything in los angeles, the sunset strip, any of that. we felt like complete outsiders. when we came up here in september 1982, and we started playing, we played four shows that fall, like i said, at the stones, at the waldorf, and at the gardens. and we were taken in, and we felt so loved up here, and there was a sense of community, of music community for people like ourselves who felt like outsiders, things that were not in the mainstream, and that has obviously been a significant part of san francisco's

history. so coming up here in 1982, standing on san francisco's culture, and the beat poets, and the hippy culture, and bill graham and everything that san francisco represented, we just felt so loved and, finally, like we belonged someplace. and it's been 39 years of feeling that sense of belonging, to not just a geographical place, san francisco, the bay area, whatever you want to call it, but it's also a state of mind. you belong to what san francisco represents, and to me, we often talk about this, you know, over a glass of wine at night or whoever you're sharing a good time or tall tales with, but, you know, san francisco also is significantly a state of mind. what it represents, as, you know, the most western city in america before you get out to

the ocean and sort of the wild west mentality and independence and freedoms and equality and justice and everything that san francisco has been through since 1849, give or take. we have been so proud to be here, and we have just shouted it from the hill tops into every microphone and magazine through the years, that san francisco gave us a sense of belonging. we fly the flag of san francisco proud. on our t-shirts, made in san francisco, born in san francisco, metallica, whatever version it says, we are so proud of our connection to everything that san francisco

represents and to all the wonderful people, to obviously the great physical and geographical elements here, and the history and the cable cars and the giants and the warriors, and the list goes on. but i just want to say, on behalf of the band, how proud i am for that connection and how much it's just really given us a sense of identity. and those of us who know our story know that we've been fortunate enough to travel all over the world. we've played all seven continents, and there are many, many wonderful places on this planet where music, compared to where we started -- latin america, southeast asia, places that you wouldn't expect 30, 40 years ago that you can bring rock and roll to that have embraced us, but our hearts and our sense of belonging will

always be san francisco, and metallica and san francisco will always be two words that are synonymous with each other. thank you for the two sides of this. and like i said, the important part, we're just getting started. all our best years are still ahead of us. [applause] >> before rob speaks, in true metallica takeover fashion, we've got these cards of just so many events that everyone out here has been working on, and mary, and so if you want to see all the things that are going on, they're not just playing in an arena, they're adding to every district of the city, night life and economic development, and being in the community, so i just want to

know you know those. robert? >> thank you. it's an honor to be here, and thank you, mayor breed, and thank you, greg. metallica, for me, it's just totally surreal. to sit here where the warriors play -- when i used to see metallica, they played where the warriors played, and to actually be here in the venue when the team is doing so amazing is amazing for me as a warrior fan. and lars is right. the creative energy in the city is so important. i remember, back in the day, i played in a band called suicidal tendencies, and we weren't allowed to play in l.a.

for seven years because there was some violence there or whatever. and san francisco took us in and actually became our second family, and i know this also happened with a lot of the skate board community because they were also part of our tribe when i was a part of suicidal tendencies. so the skate boarders from san francisco would stay with the skate boarders from l.a. and vice versa, and in my mind, there's always been a connection. there's the outlaws, the creative types, this connection. and when i joined metallica, it was a perfect fit. the mindset, the level of creativity, everything about it, and it's just almost 20 years ago for me. i'm happy to sit here with lars and celebrate this moment with you all. thank you for having me. [applause]

>> are we going to take questions? >> sure. just not from that guy. [indiscernible] so i work a lot with local musicians, and any time you talk about the music scene in the bay area was when metallica was coming up. what was the spark of magic that made that time so special, when all of these bands were big, and how can we bring that spark into now?

>> that's a great question. actually, i came up here a couple of times before metallica came up here. my dad was a tennis player, and he would play over at the berkeley tennis club. we would stay at the former celli's, and i would go to tower records and rasputina and the people's park and was just fascinated with the energy of that spot. and i heard -- i was standing in front of tower records -- this was about 1979, and i heard something loud walking my way, and it was a guy with a boom box on his shoulder, and i recognized, he was playing a motorhead song. so he -- i asked him, you're playing the song. it's incredible, and we became best friends, and he -- his

name was richard birch, and he ended up with the coat on the back of "kill them all." he was kind of in the gateway, you really had to dig for people that were of the same breed as you, and at that time, i was introduced to dozens and

dozens of kids, all 17 years old, who viewed the world the same as i did. i was an only child growing up, and it just gave me a sense of identity. and so when the band came up here -- and stayed in touch with all of these guys and girls. so when the band came up here a year later, that was the beginning of the scene, you knee, and all these kids, you know, most of them ended up in bands. you know, the exodus' of the world, the forbiddens, the lost rockets, and there was just a scene up here. now, that scene was rooted, i think, in acceptance, in tolerance, in open-mindedness, again, going back to everything you associate with san francisco. here, you don't have to apologize. you don't have to try to fit in. nobody's going to judge you,

nobody's going to look down on you and all that kind of stuff. so we all just feel free up here, and we could just be ourselves, and we didn't have to apologize for who we were as 17, 18, 19-year-old disenfranchised kids. obviously, that's 38, 39 years ago. i can't tell you that same opportunity exists today. i would love to tell you, but the world is a different place that we don't need to get into. the sense of loving, the sense of mystery, the sense that all these bands belong to my group, and the internet, which has done countless amazing things has also turned some of that stuff upside down. so i don't know if all of those possibilities exist today, but

i'm always hopeful, and i would encourage any 15-year-olds, ten-year-olds, eight-year-olds -- i can see it in my kids -- i would encourage them to be authentic and just be yourself, and there's no better place to be yourself than just the whole bay area. >> one of the great things that's happening this weekend is basically our kids, our sons have bands, and they're performing in the city. that's a dream come true as part of in experience.

>> part of the takeover. >> yeah, and for us, it's celebrating the live music venues exactly how we came up, and that hasn't happened in a long time in this city, and hopefully, everybody will recognize that and go out and check the music out. i talked to james' son and his band, and i get so excited to see the look in their eyes when they're creating. >> hopefully your sons will be as successful as del curry's sons. >> the hon. london breed: and

i'd just like to add, the city has made too things way too complicated for musicians to just be free to do exactly what we're talking about, which is one of the reasons why, you know, we in the city have made some changes to make it simple for live music at certain businesses. if you want to do a pop-up right here, the process that you have to go through is too extensive, and so we've cut that red tape. we're trying to make it as easy as possible, and i really appreciate your perspective, and also, what that reminds me of is we have to make it better for the next generation of artists in this city to showcase their talent in

various ways. >> lars, if i may, let me speak as a fan [indiscernible] let me speak as a fan. back in the early 80s, when we watched these bands -- lars mentioned some of them. we understood two things occurred. one, metallica is a band, and they're great musicians. believe me, we put on so many bands that maybe are not the greatest musicians in the world, and the two things that you needed to separate yourself: great musicianship and passion and mania. you need leaders of the band that want it so bad and want to do the right thing, and, you know, there's a couple of bands in the world like that. so we'll take a few more

questions. yes, sir. >> thanks. thanks. i think some of this was covered in your last answer, lars and rob. i'm with the s.f. standard, trying to drill down a little bit deeper into thrash metal specifically. i was wondering if you could, without making everybody's eyes glaze over, or maybe not, but why this area was so fundamental. you could come over here and see one of your shows, and then

go across the bay and capture a g.b.h. show. why was there such a convergence of metal and punk in the area? >> it has to start with musical freedoms, and a license to be yourself, and a license to explore the things that turn you on without forfeiting who you are trying to fit in. so i think up here, i think everyone felt they were free enough to pursue their true calling. so if you want to get more technical about it, then obviously, you know, thrash metal was obviously a hybrid of the more extreme, the motorheads, and the british new wave metals, the iron maiden and the g.b.h. and all the punk

bands that would come up from l.a. okay. l.a., the sunset strip, you're supposed to look like this, you're supposed to act like this if you want to fit in, and if you don't do that, you're not part of the scene. none of that existed up here, and that's why it not only felt so liberating but also so unique to this history. now if you want to talk about all of the beat poets and everything that happened in 1968, and all of these people and why did that movement start here, the grateful dead and

haight-ashbury, and this lineage has been talked about so much and all of that. but the one thing i want to remind people is when we talk about these types of questions is there always has to be the x factor, which is -- i call it the energy of the universe, and it's the aligning of the stars. so at that time, 1981, 1982, 1983, just because of what was going on in music because of, you know, a bunch of kids felt they had been given a voice and what was going on not just in the city but in the east bay and el cerrito, and all of that, there was a lot of stuff happening, but all of that couldn't have taken place without what i call the

x-factor or the energy of the universe. a lot of that is -- our publicist, steve, can set up an interview, and we can talk more about that in depth at some point. >> i have to say something that's really important, and people should also recognize that there was a heavy funk movement coming out of the east bay. sly and the family stone influenced prince. you know, michael jackson, and then, you get into grand central station, tower of power. seriously, that's another whole ingredient in this city that needed to be recognized, too. whether it's pop, r&b or anything, that had a huge influence and impact on that, too, and that came out of the east bay, so that's something also to think about. >> well, we are running a little bit over at this

point -- [indiscernible] oh, okay. one more question here. >> for lars and for robert. i just spoke with some fans outside, including a couple of guys, one's 25, one's 40. 25-year-old's from france, 40-year-old is from switzerland. they met at a metallica concert, and they travelled all over even with the pandemic, and now, they're connecting here. when you reflect over the course of 40 years and to hear generations that come together to travel the world to see your music, what does that mean to you? >> it's the reason we're here. it keeps us going. it fuels us, and it keeps us

inspired and just invigorated. the main word that i use is the word connecting. you know, we connect to people through music, and the main thing that we try to do is to breakdown that barrier that exists between a band and an audience. we break that down, and we can try to share a similar state of mind. two years ago, when we were fortunate enough to be asked to open this incredible venue, there was an unexpected thing that happened in the wake of the metallica s&m concerts, as they were call. unbeknownst to us, metallica fans from 65 countries -- just take that in for a minute. 65 countries -- descended on

san francisco for that three or four-day weekend, and to me, that is a culmination of what the metallica thing has reached in terms of a global thing that we touched upon earlier. it's not something we take ownership of, it's not something that we own, oh, look at how big we are, look at how great we are. it's something we want to facilitate, take you in, and we'll go all over the world and try to encourage that to happen. but we talked in the wake of the s&m concerts a couple of years ago about trying to do more things like that and bring people here to san francisco and bring that international audience to san francisco. and then, obviously, you know what happened for the next 1.5 years, so we're so appreciative and grateful for the fact that,

now, 2.5 years later, we've had the opportunity to again bring people in from all over the world and to descend upon san francisco, to take the music in, but to take everything else that san francisco offers, not just fisherman's wharf, but everything that san francisco offers and represents, and it is so amazing to just hear these stories all the time. but i'm more proud of how international our community is than anything else because it really proves that with all the craziness that are going on in the world and all the division and everybody jumping at the opportunity to find something that separates us, that at least through music, that there's some -- here's where one thing that's refrained from

infiltrating, and the fact that 65 countries can be represented in a city like this, in a building like this, and the fact that something like this can happen in the middle of the shitstorm of the last few years, that is great. >> the hon. london breed: so lars, i have one last question. does that mean that this will be an annual event? >> i don't know if you all have plans in ten years, but why don't we meet right here in 2031 for 50 years? you'll be on your fifth term? >> the hon. london breed: i won't be here. you've got to be here next year so i can come back. >> we'll keep it going, and i just want to thank mayor breed and greg and everybody involved in making this san francisco

takeover, our friends at salesforce, and mary and vickie and everybody who's doing such an incredible job, dan, of getting this out and spreading the message of music and connectivity and hope. like i said, it's gotten a little nuttier in the last few days because of covid, and i know everybody's extra cautious. let's celebrate, let's be safe, but let's have an incredible four days, and metallica takeover of san francisco is in full effect. [applause] >> thank you all for coming.

>> one more statement. we are the one. that is our first single that we made. that is our opinion. >> i can't argue with you. >> you are responsible please do not know his exact. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> i had a break when i was on a major label for my musical career. i took a seven year break. and then i came back. i worked in the library for a long time. when i started working the san

francisco history centre, i noticed they had the hippie collection. i thought, if they have a hippie collection, they really need to have a punk collection as well. so i talked to the city archivist who is my boss. she was very interested. one of the things that i wanted to get to the library was the avengers collection. this is definitely a valuable poster. because it is petty bone. it has that weird look because it was framed. it had something acid on it and something not acid framing it. we had to bring all of this stuff that had been piling up in my life here and make sure that the important parts of it got archived. it wasn't a big stretch for them to start collecting in the area of punk. we have a lot of great photos and flyers from that area and that. that i could donate myself. from they're, i decided, you

know, why not pursue other people and other bands and get them to donate as well? the historic moments in san francisco, punk history, is the sex pistols concert which was at winterland. [♪♪♪] it brought all of the punks on the web -- west coast to san francisco to see this show. the sex pistols played the east coast and then they play texas and a few places in the south and then they came directly to san francisco. they skipped l.a. and they skipped most of the media centres. san francisco was really the biggest show for them pick it was their biggest show ever. their tour manager was interested in managing the adventures, my band. we were asked to open to support the pistols way to that show. and the nuns were also asked to open the show. it was certainly the biggest crowd that we had ever played to. it was kind of terrifying but it did bring people all the way from vancouver, tee seattle, portland, san diego, all up and

down the coast, and l.a., obviously. to san francisco to see this show. there are a lot of people who say that after they saw this show they thought they would start their own band. it was a great jumping off point for a lot of west coast punk. it was also, the pistols' last show. in a way, it was the end of one era of punk and the beginning of a new one. the city of san francisco didn't necessarily support punk rock. [♪♪♪] >> last, but certainly not least is a jell-o be opera. they are the punk rock candidate of the lead singer called the dead kennedys. >> if we are blaming anybody in san francisco, we will just blame the dead kennedys. >> there you go. >> we had situations where concerts were cancelled due to flyers, obscene flyers that the

city was thought -- that he thought was obscene that had been put up. the city of san francisco has come around to embrace it's musicians. when they have the centennial for city hall, they brought in all kinds of local musicians and i got to perform at that. that was, at -- in a way, and appreciation from the city of san francisco for the musical legends. i feel like a lot of people in san francisco don't realize what resources there are at the library. we had a film series, the s.f. punk film series that i put together. it was nearly sold out every single night. people were so appreciative that someone was bringing this for them. it is free. everything in the library is free. >> it it is also a film producer who has a film coming out. maybe in 2018 about crime. what is the title of it? >> it is called san francisco first and only rock 'n' roll movie. crime, 1978. [laughter]

>> when i first went to the art institute before the adventures were formed in 77, i was going to be a painter. i did not know i would turn into a punk singer. i got back into painting and i mostly do portraiture and figurative painting. one of the things about this job here is i discovered some great resources for images for my painting. i was looking through these mug shot books that we have here that are from the 1920s. i did a whole series of a mug shot paintings from those books. they are in the san francisco history centre's s.f. police department records. there are so many different things that the library provides for san franciscans that i feel like a lot of people are like, oh, i don't have a library card. i've never been there. they need to come down and check it out and find out what we have. the people who are hiding stuff

in their sellers and wondering what to do with these old photos or old junk, whether it is hippie stuff or punk stuff, or stuff from their grandparents, if they bring it here to us, we can preserve it and archive it and make it available to the public in the future. >> growing up in san francisco has been way safer than growing up other places we we have that bubble, and it's still that bubble that it's okay to be whatever you want to. you can let your free flag fry -- fly here. as an adult with autism, i'm here to challenge people's idea of what autism is. my journey is not everyone's journey because every autistic

child is different, but there's hope. my background has heavy roots in the bay area. i was born in san diego and adopted out to san francisco when i was about 17 years old. i bounced around a little bit here in high school, but i've always been here in the bay. we are an inclusive preschool, which means that we cater to emp. we don't turn anyone away. we take every child regardless of race, creed, religious or ability. the most common thing i hear in my adult life is oh, you don't seem like you have autism. you seem so normal. yeah. that's 26 years of really, really, really hard work and i think thises that i still do. i was one of the first open adoptions for an lgbt couple. they split up when i was about

four. one of them is partnered, and one of them is not, and then my biological mother, who is also a lesbian. very queer family. growing up in the 90's with a queer family was odd, i had the bubble to protect me, and here, i felt safe. i was bullied relatively infrequently. but i never really felt isolated or alone. i have known for virtually my entire life i was not suspended, but kindly asked to not ever bring it up again in first grade, my desire to have a sex change. the school that i went to really had no idea how to handle one. one of my parents is a little bit gender nonconforming, so they know what it's about, but my parents wanted my life to be

safe. when i have all the neurological issues to manage, that was just one more to add to it. i was a weird kid. i had my core group of, like, very tight, like, three friends. when we look at autism, we characterize it by, like, lack of eye contact, what i do now is when i'm looking away from the camera, it's for my own comfort. faces are confusing. it's a lack of mirror neurons in your brain working properly to allow you to experience empathy, to realize where somebody is coming from, or to realize that body language means that. at its core, autism is a social disorder, it's a neurological disorder that people are born with, and it's a big, big spectrum. it wasn't until i was a teenager that i heard autism in relation to myself, and i rejected it.

i was very loud, i took up a lot of space, and it was because mostly taking up space let everybody else know where i existed in the world. i didn't like to talk to people really, and then, when i did, i overshared. i was very difficult to be around. but the friends that i have are very close. i click with our atypical kiddos than other people do. in experience, i remember when i was five years old and not wanting people to touch me because it hurt. i remember throwing chairs because i could not regulate my own emotions, and it did not mean that i was a bad kid, it meant that i couldn't cope. i grew up in a family of behavioral psychologists, and i got development cal -- developmental psychology from all sides. i recognize that my experience

is just a very small picture of that, and not everybody's in a position to have a family that's as supportive, but there's also a community that's incredible helpful and wonderful and open and there for you in your moments of need. it was like two or three years of conversations before i was like you know what? i'm just going to do this, and i went out and got my prescription for hormones and started transitioning medically, even though i had already been living as a male. i have a two-year-old. the person who i'm now married to is my husband for about two years, and then started gaining weight and wasn't sure, so i went and talked with the doctor at my clinic, and he said well, testosterone is basically birth control, so there's no way you can be pregnant. i found out i was pregnant at 6.5 months. my whole mission is to kind of

normalize adults like me. i think i've finally found my calling in early intervention, which is here, kind of what we do. i think the access to care for parents is intentionally confusing. when i did the prospective search for autism for my own child, it was confusing. we have a place where children can be children, but it's very confusing. i always out myself as an adult with autism. i think it's helpful when you know where can your child go. how i'm choosing to help is to give children that would normally not be allowed to have children in the same respect, kids that have three times as much work to do as their peers or kids who do odd things, like, beach therapy.

how do -- speech therapy. how do you explain that to the rest of their class? i want that to be a normal experience. i was working on a certificate and kind of getting think early childhood credits before i started working here, and we did a section on transgender inclusion, inclusion, which is a big issue here in san francisco because we attract lots of queer families, and the teacher approached me and said i don't really feel comfortable or qualified to talk about this from, like, a cisgendered straight person's perspective, would you mind talking a little bit with your own experience, and i'm like absolutely. so i'm now one of the guest speakers in that particular class at city college. i love growing up here. i love what san francisco represents. the idea of leaving has never occurred to me. but it's a place that i need to fight for to bring it back to what it used to be, to allow all of those little kids that

come from really unsafe environments to move somewhere safe. what i've done with my life is work to make all of those situations better, to bring a little bit of light to all those kind of issues that we're still having, hoping to expand into a little bit more of a resource center, and this resource center would be more those new parents who have gotten that diagnosis, and we want to be this one centralized place that allows parents to breathe for a second. i would love to empower from the bottom up, from the kid level, and from the top down, from the teacher level. so many things that i would love to do that are all about changing people's minds about certain chunts, like the transgender community or the autistic community. i would like my daughter to know there's no wrong way to go through life. everybody experiences pain and grief and sadness, and that all of those things are temporary.

>> in 201,755.7 million passengers traveled through san francisco international airport. we have on average 150,000 people traveling through the airport every day. flying can be stressful so we have introduced therapy dogs to make flying more enjoyable. the wag brigade is a partnership between the airport and the san francisco therapy animal assistant program to bring therapy animals into the airport, into the terminals to make passenger travel more enjoyable. i amgen fer casarian and i work here at san francisco international airport. the idea for therapy dogs got started the day after 9/11. an employee brought his therapy

dog to work after 9/11 and he was able to see how his dog was able to relieve passenger's jitter. when we first launched the program back in 2013, our main goal was to destress our passengers however what we quickly found is that our animals were helping us find a way to connect with our pang. passengers. we find there are a lot of people traveling through the airport who are missing their pets and who are on their road a lot and can't have pets and we have come in contact with a lot of people recently who have lost pet. >> i love the wag brigade. >> one of my favorite parts is walking into the terminals and seeing everybody look up from their device, today everybody is

interacting on their cell phone or laptop and we can walk into the terminal with a dog or a pig and people start to interact with each other again and it's on a different level. more of an emotional level. >> i just got off an 11.5 hour flight and nice to have this distraction in the middle of it. >> we look for wag brigade handlers who are comfortable in stressful situations. >> i like coming to airport it's a lot of fun and the people you talk to are generally people who are missing their dogs. >> they are required to compete a certification process. and they are also required to complete a k9 good citizen test and we look for animals who have experienced working with other organizations such as hospitals

and pediatric units and we want to be sure that the animals we are bringing into the airport are good with children and also good with some of our senior travelers. i think toby really likes meeting kids. that is his favorite thing. he likes to have them pet him and come up to him and he really loves the kids. >> our wag brigade animals can be spotted wearing custom vets and they have custom patches. >> there is never a day that repeats itself and there is never and encounter that repeats itself. we get to do maximum good in a small stretch of time and i have met amazing people who have been thrilled to have the interaction. >> the dogs are here seven days

a week, we have 20 dogs and they each come for a two hour shift. >> there is a lot of stress when people have traveling so to from these animals around to ease the stress and help people relax a little bit. i think it's great. >> one of our dogs has special need and that is tristine. he wears a wheel around. >> he has special shoes and a harness and we get it together in the parking lot and then we get on the air train. he loves it. little kids love him because he is a little lower to the ground so easy to reach and he has this big furry head they get to pet and he loves that. >> he doesn't seem to mind at all. probably one of the happiest

dogs in the world. >> many people are nervous when they travel but seeing the dogs is just a wonderful relief. >> what i absolutely love most about it is the look on people's faces, so whenever they are stressed and flying is stressful these days you get these wonderful smile. >> i am the mom of lilo the pig and she is san francisco's first therapy pig. >> lilo joined the wag brigade as our first pig. >> wag brigade invited us to join the program here and we have done it about a year-and-a-half ago. our visits last 1.5 to 2 hours and it does take a little bit

longer to get out of the terminal because we still get a lot of attention and a lot of people that want to interact with lilo. >> i feel honored to be part of the wag brigade. it's very special to meet so many people and make so many feel happy and people that work here. it's been a great experience for me and a great experience for to toby. >> it's been an extremely successful program, so the next time you are here, stop by and say hi. >> when i open up the paper

every day, i'm just amazed at how many different environmental issues keep popping up. when i think about what planet i want to leave for my children and other generations, i think about what kind of contribution i can make on a personal level to the environment. >> it was really easy to sign up for the program. i just went online to cleanpowersf.org, i signed up and then started getting pieces in the mail letting me know i was going switch over and poof it happened. now when i want to pay my bill, i go to pg&e and i don't see any difference in paying now. if you're a family on the budget, if you sign up for the regular green program, it's not going to change your bill at all. you can sign up online or call. you'll have the peace of mind knowing you're doing your part in your household to help the

environment. >> president walton: good afternoon. happy new year. welcome to the january 4, 2022 regular meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors please call the roll. >> clerk: thank you mr. president. [ roll call ]