all right.

hello everyone. thank you so much for joining me. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i'm joined today with our police chief bill scott to talk about the crime statistics in san francisco. and i just want to back up and put things into perspective. first of all, it's been a challenging year. we say that over and over again, but we also understand the challenges everyone is living with whether it's people who've lost their jobs and homes. kids that who aren't in school. those that struggle with mental health challenges and a number of other issues. sadly, in san francisco, we have seen certain crime statistics increase, but we've seen others decrease. and the chief will get into those more specifically. now, despite dealing with this pandemic and seeing a number of people especially with the omicron variant out sick, we've seen that happen not just with

people in san francisco, but many of our city workers including those from our police and fire department. the public safety arm of san francisco. and i just want to take this opportunity to really thank our police officers, many of them have had to do overtime because we've had hundreds of officers out as a result of omicron and others have had to step up to take their place. we know that there are a number of challenges that we see and we know that people are anxious to see improvements in the tenderloin community with the emergency declaration, but the fact is we have a number of employees that are out. others have stepped up to take their place and we want to ensure that not only are we doing what we need to do in the tenderloin community to keep that community safe, we also need to make sure that we're keeping everyone in the entire city safe. we know that that is such a priority for so many san franciscans. and as a leader of this city,

it is a priority for me. nothing is more important than to make sure that people who live in this city, people who work in this city, people who visit san francisco feel safe as they walk down the streets. and the fact is that does require police officers. it does require folks who are part of our public safety network. it does require us working together. and to be clear, it does not mean that we ignore the reforms that we need to do here in san francisco with our police department. it does not mean that we ignore all the work we're doing to provide an alternative response to policing. those things go hand in hand with also keeping people safe so that they don't become victims of violent crime. so i want at this time to really just talk about what has been our plan moving forward.

our plan moving forward, of course, is definitely contingent upon us providing those various services with our street crisis response team, our ambassadors, our escorts for our seniors. so many great programs in san francisco with a lot of nonprofit agencies that are working hand in hand with us to deliver for san franciscos who are most impacted by crime. yesterday, i was in chinatown, we were talking about the statistics and the hate crimes that have increased by 567% in the a.p.i. community specifically and our need to enhance our support is what we're doing because that is critically important to the safety of that community and to making sure that people understand that we don't tolerate this and we will do everything we can to make sure that justice is served for the victims of these violent attacks. and part of that is making sure

that we have a robust police department. a department that has officers who can not only walk the beat, but those that can investigate crime. those that can deal with a number of the challenges and victim services and support all the things that we need in order to make sure that not only are people kept safe and we prevent those crimes from happening in the first place, but once they happen that there is a process to bring those who commit those violent acts to hold them accountable. and that's what this is all about. the department over the past couple of years since 2019 has seen a reduction in the number of police officers by about 20%. and so where our operating with the staffing that we have and meeting the needs all over san francisco, but we clearly need more. just recently, we received a letter from the controller's office of san francisco that says if we don't move forward with the supplemental that i

introduced for $22.5 million to help with the cost associated with the police and fire department, services will be impacted because they won't be able to allow us to spend above our means. so what does that mean? that means that the controller's office will come in and make certain decisions for us. that means that the police academy classes which are already struggling with recruitment for our police department won't happen. that means no more back filling of officers. no more getting police officers on the streets in the numbers that we need in order to ensure safety. that's what it means. it means our fire department will be affected. $7.9 million for the police. $14.6 million i believe for the fire department to address what we know is again the overtime related to the additional

services needed from people being out sick and also the shortage in staffing of people who have retired or left the department for various reasons. this is not asking for more. this is asking for the basics, what everyone expects in the city as it relates to public safety. that's what this is about and i'm hoping that the member officer the board of supervisors see it that way. this is about what people expect. when there's a shooting in the bayview hunter's point community which has occurred on far too many occasions, the expectation is that the police will show up. when there's a stabbing or a shooting or assault in the tenderloin community, that community expects that the police will show up and they will get justice. when there is crime of any occurrence, whether it's a burglary when someone is

breaking into someone's home while they're there. can you imagine experiencing that and not having the police show up right away when you call 911. that should never happen in a major city like san francisco. there should be an expectation if something happens and you're in need of medical treatment, the paramedics will come. when you're in need of support from law enforcement because you've been assaulted or robbed or anything has occurred, the police should be expected to show up. so this additional resource we need is about maintaining that level of service and we know we need more, but in the meantime, as our city has really suffered during this pandemic, not just the challenges of mental illness and addiction and homelessness and all of the things that we continue to address, but crime. and crime has to be addressed in a number of ways. there is not a

one-size-fits-all, but there is a real need to make sure that we don't completely deplete our police department and then still expect justice and service and support when sadly we become the victim. we can do better and my hope is that we will do better. my hope is that the board will approve this supplemental and the police department will be able to continue the great work that they have done for san francisco especially during this pandemic. so, with that, i'd like to introduce our police chief bill scott to talk specifically about the statistics from last year. >> police chief scott: thank you, mayor breed. and good morning everybody. we're going to have graphics on the screen so you can follow along. and before i start with the statistics, let me start and put this into context. statistics are what's reported

to us. and we all understand that sometimes what translates on the statistics may not be your experience. aside from homicide, i think traditionally in policing, crimes go unreported. homicide is probably the purest statistic we have because it's really hard not to have a homicide reported or murder reported. short of everything else, we know there are crimes that we don't get because they're not reported from shootings to reports, to burglaries, you name it. some crimes don't get reported and i want to put that into some context because when we talk about our statistics, we're talking about what's reported to us and we understand that for some people, that may not be their experience. that might not be what they're seeing. the victim may not have reported it or things in particular from their world view might not be consistent

with what we put up. this is merely what we report and i think it's important that we understand and put into context what statistics are. as mayor breed said, we know there's a lot of work that we need to do. we also know that there is a lot of good work that's been done. so we're going to talk about both. we're going to talk about the challenges and we're going to talk about the things where we've seen some progress and some improvement. and being that i led off talking about homicide are the purist statistic that we have. i'm going to start off with our homicide and each one of these graphs that you see are, you'll see the last several years of statistics. so you can put into context what the trends are. violent crimes will start here and we'll put into context what the trends are over time because it paints a clearer picture when you look at crime statistics over a period of time. we have 56 homicide this past

year in 2021. and when you look at this graph, this graphic, the last time we had homicides was 2017. we saw a decline for three years and then starting in 2019, we started to see an increase in homicides, and sadly, this is not just a san francisco trend, this is a national trend and this is something that is truly concerning to all of us. many of our investigations have led us to facts that indicate that many of our cases are connected with some of the surroundings cities in the bay area and so we've been doing a lot of work with those jurisdictions and those police departments both on the law enforcement side and on the social services side to try to turn this trend around. 56 homicides for san francisco is a big deal and it's something we're committed to turning around and before i end my discussion, i'm going to talk a little bit about some of the strategies that we've put in place to do just that.

i also want to say that in our effort to bring these cases to resolution, we solved our clearance rate for homicides this past year was 77%. so almost eight and ten of our cases we solved and that's been consistent over the last several years and that rate is really far above the state average and the national average and so that's something we're pleased with. not to say we can't do better. we want to solve every case, but sadly for the families and the victims, we don't solve every case, but we'll definitely work as hard as we can to do just that. those cases can be solved and those investigators can't do the work if we don't have what's in place. we have to have the staffing to do that. we also have to have community support and there are too many people to thank in terms of many members in our community.

but we'll keep pushing forward and we want to turn that 56 to a much lower number. a couple years ago, i think it was the mayor's first year in office or second year in office, we were at 41 homicides for the year. that is as low as we've been since the early 1960s. we want to do better than that. gun violence contributed to the majority of our homicides and the next graphic, you'll see our gun violence victims for 2021. there were a total of 222. that's the highest we've been since 2016. and you look at the friends. it really follows the homicide trends where you see a dip. 2018 to 2019 and then it starts to do back up. now, we don't really know the role that the global pandemic plays in this. there's a lot of theories out there. there's a lot of anecdotal crime is high because of all reasons connected to covid and

all that may be true, but we really don't have the evidence to point that out. this category of crime is going up and we need to turn it around. in terms of gun violence, we are working with several community groups and also with our mayor's office and her public safety folks in her office to bring strategies to the table. we've brought strategies to the table that don't only rely on us being able to solve the case, but also really addressing the people who are most at risk and i'm talking about the people who are at most risk of either shooting somebody or being shot. and what we have done over the last two years is a lot of research to drill down on who those people are and reach out to them and their families to try to get them some help. in the cases where we can't get them help and they commit a crime, investigate those cases thoroughly and vigorously and bring them to justice. and that balance is how we will

move forward in addressing gun violence. it's been successful so far. last year we started in a hole with gun violence. it's our intention to cause that to continue as much as we can and so far this year it's early, very early. so i'm not going to put too much weight in this but we're on a much better note than this time last year. next category. rapes. as you can see in the graphic, we had 204 rapes reported last year which is a little bit below where we were in 2020. we saw a significant decrease between 2019 and 2020. so that's going in the right direction. sexual assaults are right up there with homicides as far as the seriousness, the impact on

the victims and their families, something that we take very seriously and hopefully we can continue to see that number go in the right direction. next category of violent crime or robberies. so robberies, i want to put this into a little bit of context with the mayor's comments about how important staffing is. robberies are one of those crime categories where officers on the street really make a difference. we saw this in parts of the city such as the tenderloin mid year when we upped our deployment in the tenderloin. we saw pretty significant double digit percentage wise dropping robberies. we ended the year with 2, 242 robberies which is a slight decrease this year about 200 robberies left. we still have a lot to do with robberies. but the reason it's so important to put officers in these areas where we know these robberies are occurring, the majority of these robberies are street crimes.

people are going to and from whatever it is they're.co in the daily activities alike. when officers are present and this is proven time and time again, we tend to have less of those events when officers are present. that's why foot patrols and foot beats and bike officers and presence and engagement is so important in terms of reducing robberies. so that is our strategy moving forward. we know it works. we know it can work. we need the people to do it and we're committed to just that. part of our analysis when we identify where robberies are occurring, usually, the drill is we identify the hot spot. and the best case scenario, the officers are there to begin with to prevent the robberies from happening, but if we can't do that, then we usually adjust our deployment and we put officers in those areas and we see crime go down and that happens time and time again. so officers matter. we need to have them out in the

field and as we see, we've made some progress and robberies and we hope to continue that. next category is assaults, and aggravated assaults. now i want to explain to you all that shootings are included in this category. we break out shootings because shootings are so important and such a big issue for our city. we break that out. but these numbers that you see and aggravated assault and shootings are inclusive in these numbers. so we had an increase. as you see, it increased with a couple hundred, 200 aggravated assaults. 81 is the number for 2021. this is another set of crimes where at least the public ones where deployment matters. it matters a lot. some aggravated assaults happen inside peoples' homes and businesses and we can't always get to those and try to prevent them. but the ones that happen in the public, it's really important to have officers present and

deployed and visible in those communities where these are occurring. these assaults include as i said, gun related violence, but they also include bodily weapons. they include knives. they include other weapons, sticks, bottles. that's inclusive of all of our assaults. it went up from 2020 to 2021. it's something that we had to turn around. very serious crimes and policing matters in that. and on the investigative side, we have to do more in our investigations to solve more of these cases. so now we're going to go to property crime. burglaries are the first category that i'll talk about. 2020 and this was the year of the global pandemic. we saw a significant jump in burglaries and as much as we try to figure out whether the pandemic was partially responsible, there are some of those statistics in 2020 that are pandemic related.

we had a rash of burglaries and lootings during june, late may of 2020 relate today all the civil unrest across the country. so that contributed to it, but it went beyond that. many of our san franciscans had their houses and their garages broken into, businesses broken into, and we saw an uptick. the first half of this year, it was a significant uptick. so we adjusted our deployment. we put officers where these incidents were happening including putting our plain clothed officers, deploying them at night. surveilling people who we believe to be involved in those burglaries. we made some key arrests. we were tracking the prolific burglars and we were able to make arrests on many of them. and we started to see about mid year, about may, we started to see those numbers decline and they declined throughout the year. so we ended the year on a positive note with burglaries.

but we're not out of the woods on burglaries. as you can see, we're far higher than 2019 and the previous year. so we still have a lot of work to do and we still have a lot of people to hold accountable for what we're doing. what we find with the burglary suspects is many of them are repeat offenders and prolific. those are the ones we have concentrated on. those people, those individuals. we've had some success. some of our most prolific once we got them in custody, we saw drops in certain neighborhoods where we believe they were active and this goes beyond the city and county of san francisco. so those are strategies that we'll continue to deploy with our burglaries and we believe if we do that, they will continue to go in the right direction. so we ended the year on a good note, but we still have a lot of work to do. next category is larceny. and this is the whole gamut. so this will include architect. and packaged thefts and all.

so as you can see, when you compare 2021 to 2020, it was a significant increase in thefts. and it's pretty much across the board. but when you look at this over the last five years, we were on a steady decline. 2020 was an aberration. but then we go to 2021 and we get an increase in 2020. so we look at this over time. not as much out of whack as if you put an asteric by what we believe was the impact of covid with our decrease in 2020, but we were able to make some headway on a lot of these categories. retail theft. we've had the mayor and i some announcements this summer about how we were addressing retail theft. we did see a difference and some of those locations that were getting hit the hardest when we made those adjustments

and those included we doubled the size of our retail theft, our investigation unit. we added personnel to better coordinate our ten beat appointment which is our uniformed officers that get hired by retailers and the coordination between those off duty officers and on duty officers is as good as it's ever been so that has helped because that has led to better coordination and better coverage the other category that's been stubborn in our city is the car break-in issues. mid year, the mayor made an announcement about our tourism deployment. in our city, we were talking about the areas in our city where people come here and they want to see it. they have to see those areas. and then they come here and get

victimized. and we're finding discarded luggage all over the city. we started what we termed our tourism deployment and much of that was done in overtime. and the areas that we concentrated on, we saw significant decreases. so that deployment although we had to make some adjustments. that deployment is still happening we also want to make sure the people that live here day in and day out so there's a lot of work to be done there. we did see some turn arounds with our car break-ins and we'll continue to turn this picture around. looking at the long term. you can see the trends over from 2017 to 2019 was a decrease and then 2020, that significant decrease and then arrives in 2021. so we want to turn that around and not be above where we were last year in terms of the

overall larceny picture. and we think some of the strategies that i mentioned will help, but it also helps to hold people accountable and bring them to justice when they do those types of crimes. auto thefts is the next category. and we have a little bit of a longer view in amount of thefts and as you see, you see it will be up in a second. you see a decline from 2015 to 2019 basically then 2020, there was a significant increase. that was somewhat of a trend that we saw in other cities as well. we do track other cities to see if what we experience here is something that's just in san francisco. this is something bigger. auto thefts, many cities experience increases. and we saw significant increase in 2020 and then it levelled off a little bit in 2021 and we saw actually just a very slight decrease. so auto thefts is a big issue. we recover a lot of the cars that get stolen. unfortunately, we don't solve as many of the cases as we

would like to. so that's an area that we have to continue to work on and there are some technology trends that we're seeing that we have to delve in more in terms of the thieves who are still in cars or kind of a step ahead of the game with technology. so not anything they can go into detail now on, but it's something that as we had analyzed these problems and we really understand kind of why these increases are happening, we definitely will share that with the public. so statistically as the mayor said and i will reiterate, there are ups and downs. there are areas where we've had some good progress and there are areas like homicides where we have to turn things around. it takes people to do it. we want to do the job the way the city expects us to do it. so while all this is happening, we're pushing forward with all

of our that helps us. and as you all always hear me say, we're not a perfect police department. we have our issues and problems, but when we identify what those problems are, we're going to, work to fix them and make them better and as we move through 2022, we're going to do everything we can from a public safety and policing perspective to give the residents of our city the safest city we can help them have. so, with that, we'll open it up for questions and if you all don't mind, we're going to take questions for the mayor first and then i can take any policing questions and then anything in detail we can talk

about off line. we have our team here, we can talk about details off line. so thank you. >> christian. >> where have you seen successes from the tenderloin emergency plant. are you already starting to see some successes in that area? are they pushing the problem around? also are you still hoping to graduate more, we talked about more police recruits in the future to increase the number of officers? >> what do you mean by successes? >> are you seeing fewer reported crimes in that area. maybe that's something more so for the chief. >> yeah. i'll just say that i've gotten information for a number of stories of people that we've been able to help even on day

one with someone who wanted to go into treatment and needed a t.b. shot and we were able to do that and get them into a behavioral health bed before we were able to transition them into a location where they are getting help and turning their lives around. we have a number of stories like that. . i wouldn't say we have hundreds of stories like that. we'll probably be able to provide that as time goes on. this is not a problem in the tenderloin that was created overnight. the tenderloin has had so many challenges for many years and we saw during this pandemic, things have gotten so much worse even though we've added a number of resources to help support with mental illness and substance use disorder with our street crisis response team, with our street wellness team, with our street overdose entities that were created to

be an alternative response to policing so that when folks are experiencing crisis which does not in some cases require a police response, those have been extremely successful and i think we can get you the data later about the number of calls that they've responded to and how many people we've been able to help as a result of that and as this tenderloin deployment plan moves forward, we definitely need more time before we can provide statistics or specific information about the number of people that we've helped. but we are hopeful. i was there yesterday, i'm probably obsessed with going to the tenderloin every day to see what's going on down there and it has its good days and bad days and i do appreciate the fact that it appears that this linkage center has been extremely helpful and what we're hoping after we finish

hopefully with this surge of covid that we'll see more officers out on the streets in the tenderloin community to help support the various agencies and programs that we have to help people. >> mayor, on the tenderloin linkage center, the chronicle has been reporting the drug use. what is the policy on drug use there? >> well, we don't have a policy as it relates to this linkage center other than meeting people where they are. the goal is to allow people who suffer from addiction to come into this center, to no questions asked to get food, to maybe get a shower. to get support, to get services, but we're not forcing anyone to do anything. and at the end of the day, you know, this is a place where there's no judgment where this isn't a one size fits all solution and i wouldn't suggest

that something like drug use is allowed, but it's happening all over the city sadly. it's happening all over the tenderloin and regardless of this linkage center or any place else, we can't control who does or does not do or do not use drugs at any given location. our whole point of why we set up this linkage center is to meet people where they are and to try and get them the help and support they need. at this time, we are hopeful that they feel safe, they feel comfortable. they feel they can trust this location so when they are ready to get help, they have a number of people who are part of this nonprofit 360 that will instantly, immediately help deliver them to treatment detox support or whatever it is that they need. >> is the street effort part of a larger effort to get people

off the sidewalk. how far along we are and what has to happen next and staffing with police. what should people expect to see as far as what comes next? >> well, it's not just staffing with police. it's the department of public health. as i said, a number of city employees and nonprofit employees would typically be the people that we would rely on to work in these establishments, to work in the tenderloin, they've been out too in some cases with omicron and my hope is that people see a difference and they feel a difference as you walk down market street, the sidewalks are clean. as you walk in parts of the neighborhood and the tenderloin, you can actually get past the sidewalk and not see feces or step in feces or anything of that nature. my goal is to make it a walkable, livable, safe, and clean city and that involves

making sure that people who unfortunately have taken over in some cases, many of the sidewalks and areas of the tenderloin that that doesn't continue. and that those people who are suffering with addiction are -- we're able to make sure they're not overdosing out on the sidewalk somewhere or that we're discovering them weeks after they've passed away in their tent. like we're trying to avoid losing lives as well and so this kind of controlled environment is a way to, again, no questions asked. come on in. we're not here to judge. we're here to help you and we want people to feel comfortable coming into this space. it's getting people off the sidewalks, it's cleaning up the tenderloin. it's addressing crime and the violence that occurs which unfortunately, i mean, you see the statistics and, you know,

it's gotten increasingly violent in the tenderloin. the stabbings and the shootings on a regular basis. so we are trying to get a handle on that as well. and so we want people to see and feel a difference and we're hopeful in the coming months as we continue to try and address this, it will be a noticeable difference and people will not, you know, be so focused on, well, what's going on at the linkage center, we don't think it's right. well, you know what, i don't think it's right to see it out on the street and walk near needles and feces either. this is a solution that we are hopeful will lead to real change and will really lead to less crime and also less overdose deaths in san francisco. >> one followup honor crime statistics in general. there's a lot of discussion about crime is up, crime is

down. when you step back big picture, roughly crime is high in the city. do you think something is lost in the sort of discussion of crime? >> well, i'll just tell you this. i know we talk about statistics as a way to communicate what we know is actually happening based on the information because we know also there are a lot of people who won't report it. it's i'm sure in many cases, it's more than that. statistics really don't matter when you're a victim. and i think at the end of the day, i am hearing more stories from more people about situations that they experienced that they are really blown away. and let's just take it back a little bit. people who i grew up with in public housing who were like, london, this is too much. this is just the situations people are dealing with in the city and i think at the end of the day, regardless of the statistics, when it happens to you and you used to feel

comfortable and safe walking around san francisco and all of a sudden, you're randomly attacked and you're traumatized and you can't even walk your kids to school, that's a problem. so from my perspective, this city has to do more and when these crimes are committed, when that line is crossed, we have no choice but to make sure that we follow through with investigations, that we arrest the possible suspects. you know, when i was growing up, there were sometimes people who were arrested for crimes they never committed. but in san francisco and all the work we've done over the years around police reform and changes, the likelihood when we make an arrest is likely the person that we arrest. so they need to be held accountable and justice for the victims of these crimes need to occur just like justice for people who might have challenges with the criminal justice system in order to deal with public safety.

it's not either or, it's all of it. we look at the statistics, but when it happens to you, who cares about statistics. we need to make sure that the people of the city are safe. and that it does include amplifies and it is what it is. all right. thank you. >> police chief scott: okay. any other questions? great. yes, ma'am. >> this question's regarding the sfo shooting last week. >> police chief scott: first of all, we're going to have a town hall. we'll announce today, probably today or tomorrow as we always do on these types events. let me just put the context of how these things work.

this particular incident, the state attorney general's office is the lead investigative agency for the criminal investigation. so the officers whether they're legal or not. when we have a shooting no matter who investigates it, the scene is basically frozen. it's frozen this will the people who are responsible and have jurisdiction to recover that evidence, to examine it can get to it. that takes time. and in any situation whether it's this one on friday or whether it's any other case that we've ever had, you don't have confirmation on what you have immediately because the scene is frozen. in other words, if there's a gun on the ground, nobody's going to touch it and examine it for usually hours. so the notion that what we knew when we knew it, all that comes out in the town hall, but it's

-- i've seen some stories written that are questioning this department's integrity and it's transparency on this and it's really misplaced because anybody that's ever that understands this work knows that it's not even our investigation to begin with. we don't get to touch the evidence, we don't get to examine it. that didn't happen for hours by the time the state investigators showed up. san mateo had responsibility for awhile until the state made the declaration they would take the investigation. so it's really kind of a -- it's really misplaced and it's sad to be honest with you. the way that narrative has been put out is really sad. any other questions? >> chief, there's been a focus on the police staffing and the need to beef up the numbers in

the force. so when you look at the increase in certain categories and how crime has been up in certain areas, how much of it is done to a lack of officers? would you expect to see similar numbers if you weren't working against the 20% reduction in police officers? >> police chief scott: let me make sure i understand your question. >> i just wonder in the category where we have seen an increase was significant around theft or whatever it may be and the fact that you're down numbers both in the overall numbers of police officers and also because of covid, how much of a link do you put there? do you think that you would see an improvement if you just had more officers to work with? >> police chief scott: in some categories, yeah, we believe definitely because as i stated, robberies and crimes that happen in public spaces, those are the ones where you can really impact with robust deployment. and some of those, like thefts and car break-ins and it really

takes officers being out in the field and being visible in addition to the backside, the investigative side and all that's been impacted by both our staffing shortages and this latest surge of covid. so, yeah, i think and this is anecdotal at best, but i do think it makes a difference. okay. all right. thank you all. >> they tend to come up here and drive right up to the vehicle and in and out of their car and into the victim's vehicle, i would say from 10-15 seconds is all it takes to break into a car

and they're gone. yeah, we get a lot of break-ins in the area. we try to -- >> i just want to say goodbye. thank you. >> sometimes that's all it takes. >> i never leave anything in my car. >> we let them know there's been a lot of vehicle break-ins in this area specifically, they target this area, rental cars or vehicles with visible items. >> this is just warning about vehicle break-ins. take a look at it. >> if we can get them to take it with them, take it out of the cars, it helps. >> first it's always the hardest and when they look back they really won't see you, but it's the path that you're paving forward for the next one behind

you that counts. (♪♪♪) hi, my name is jajaida durden and i'm the acting superintendent for the bureau of forestry and i work for public works operations. and i'm over the landscaping, the shop and also the arborist crew. and some tree inspectors as well. i have been with the city and county of san francisco for 17 years. and i was a cement mason, that was my first job. when i got here i thought that it was too easy. so i said one day i'll be a supervisor. and when i run this place it will be ran different. and i didn't think that it would happen as fast as it did, but it did. and i came in 2002 and became a supervisor in 2006. and six months later i became

the permanent supervisor over the shop. >> with all of those responsibilities and the staff you're also dealing with different attitudes and you have to take off one hat and put on another hat and put on another hat. and she's able -- she's displayed that she can carry the weight with all of these different hats and still maintain the respect of the director, the deputy director and all of the other people that she has to come in contact with. >> she's a natural leader. i mean with her staff, her staff thinks highly of her. and the most important thing is when we have things that happen, a lot of emergencies, she's right by me and helps me out every time that i have asked. >> my inspiration is when i was a young adult was to become a fire woman. well, i made some wrong decisions and i ended up being incarcerated, starting young and all the way up to an adult. when i was in jail they had a little program called suppers program and i -- supers program,

and i met strong women in there and they introduced me to construction. i thought that the fire department would turn me down because i had a criminal history. so i looked into options of what kind of construction i could do. while i was in jail. and the program that i was in, they re-trained us on living and how to make the right decisions and i chose construction. and cement mason didn't require a high school diploma at that time so i figured i could do that. when i got out of jail they had a program in the philmore area and i went there. my first day out i signed up and four days later i started to work and i never looked back. i was an apprentice pouring concrete. and my first job was mount zion emergency hospital which is now

ucsf. and every day that i drive by ucsf and i look at the old mount zion emergency, i have a sense of pride knowing that i had a part of building that place. yeah, i did. i graduated as an apprentice and worked on a retrofit for city hall. i loved looking at that building and i take big pride in knowing that i was a part of that retrofit. my first formen job was a 40 story building from the ground up. and it's a predominantly male industry and most of the times people underestimate women. i'm used to it though, it's a challenge for me. >> as a female you're working with a lot of guys. so when they see a woman, first they don't think that the woman is in charge and to know that she's a person that is in charge with operations, i think that

it's great, because it's different. it's not something -- i mean, not only a female but the only female of color. >> i was the first female finisher in the cement shop and i was the first crew supervisor, in the shop as a woman. when i became a two, the supervisors would not help me. in the middle, they'd call me a rookie, an apprentice and a female trying to get somewhere that she don't belong. oh, it was terrible. it was terrible. i didn't have any support from the shop. the ones who said they supported me, they didn't, they talked about me behind my back. sometimes i had some crying, a lot of crying behind doors, not in public. but i had a lot of mentors. my mentor i will call and would pick up the phone and just talk, talk, talk, please help me. what am i going to do?

hang in there. it was frustrating and disheartening, it really was. but what they didn't understand is that because they didn't help me i had to learn it. and then probably about a year later, that's when i started to lay down the rules because i had studied them and i learned them and it made me a good supervisor and i started to run the ship the way that i wanted to. it was scary. but the more i saw women coming through the shop, i saw change coming. i knew that it was going to come, but i didn't know how long it would take. it was coming. in the beginning when i first came here and i was the first woman here as a finisher, to see the change as it progressed and for me to become a permanent assistant superintendent over the cement shop right now, that's my highlight. i can look down at my staff and see the diversity from the women to the different coaches in here

and know that no one has to ever go through what i went through coming up. and i foster and help everyone instead of pushing them away. i'll talk to women and tell them they can make it and if they need any help, come talk to me. and they knock on my door and ask how i move up and how i get training. i'm always encouraging to go to school and encourage them to take up some of the training with d.p.w. and i would tell them to hold strong and understand that things that we go through today that are tough makes you stronger for tomorrow. although we don't like hearing it at the time that we're going through all of this stuff, it helps you in the long run to become a better woman and a person

>> hello everyone. welcome to the bayview bistro. >> it is just time to bring the community together by deliciousness. i am excited to be here today because nothing brings the community together like food. having amazing food options for

and by the people of this community is critical to the success, the long-term success and stability of the bayview-hunters point community. >> i am nima romney. this is a mobile cafe. we do soul food with a latin twist. i wanted to open a truck to son nor the soul food, my african heritage as well as mylas as my latindescent. >> i have been at this for 15 years.

i have been cooking all my life pretty much, you know. i like cooking ribs, chicken, links. my favorite is oysters on the grill. >> i am the owner. it all started with banana pudding, the mother of them all. now what i do is take on traditional desserts and pair them with pudding so that is my ultimate goal of the business. >> our goal with the bayview bristow is to bring in businesses so they can really use this as a launching off point to grow as a single business. we want to use this as the opportunity to support business owners of color and those who have contributed a lot to the community and are looking for

opportunities to grow their business. >> these are the things that the san francisco public utilities commission is doing. they are doing it because they feel they have a responsibility to san franciscans and to people in this community. >> i had a grandmother who lived in bayview. she never moved, never wavered. it was a house of security answer entity where we went for holidays. i was a part of bayview most of my life. i can't remember not being a part of bayview. >> i have been here for several years. this space used to be unoccupied. it was used as a dump. to repurpose it for something like this with the bistro to give an opportunity for the local vendors and food people to come out and showcase their work. that is a great way to give back to the community.

>> this is a great example of a public-private community partnership. they have been supporting this including the san francisco public utilities commission and mayor's office of workforce department. >> working with the joint venture partners we got resources for the space, that the businesses were able to thrive because of all of the opportunities on the way to this community. >> bayview has changed. it is growing. a lot of things is different from when i was a kid. you have the t train. you have a lot of new business. i am looking forward to being a business owner in my neighborhood. >> i love my city. you know, i went to city college and fourth and mission in san francisco under the chefs ria,

marlene and betsy. they are proud of me. i don't want to leave them out of the journey. everyone works hard. they are very supportive and passionate about what they do, and they all have one goal in mind for the bayview to survive. >> all right. >> all right.

>> i am so happy. african-americans in the military from the revolutionary war to the present, even though they have not had the basic civil rights in america. they don't know their history. in the military the most sacrifice as anyone in this country to be willing to lay

down your blood and fight. i believe that all african-americans have served because they love this country and the hope that the citizens. >> welcome to the first -- let me take my mask off. so you guys can see who we're talking about. my name is aaron. i'm the executive director of

the northern california martin luther king, jr. community foundation and we're elated to inaugurate with our partners the san francisco human rights commission. and the university of san francisco. hope will spur a continuation year over year to launch our annual holiday celebrations. as we come to you tonight, there are several urgent issues and urgent matters that we as a community and as a country are faced with and need to come to grips with. 1965, in march of 1965, dr. king came to selma, alabama, to lead

a march. that march was to bring light to the plight of the african-american citizen in the southern states. the major issue with that plight had to do with voting rights. jim crow laws in the south, as many of you know, curtailed the ability of black folk to be able to participate meaningfully in society writ large in the united states. so they created their own community behind the veil so to speak, to create a vibrancy that was able to bring out a personality and a personality such as martin luther king, jr. to be able to highlight the ills and the plight of this nation. and so on that journey in selma,

dr. king began to negotiate with the white house and with congress to pass the 1965 voting rights act. there was in the congress and white house to do so. the marches were ensued. many of you know that the late john lewis as beaten brutally, josa williams and diane nash, beaten brutally, many were beaten brutally, just for seeking the right to vote. on march 21, after the protection of the united states marshalls took a five-day journey, 54 miles down from selma to montgomery to preach or to preach to the nation all 27,000 or so, to bring light to

this issue of voting rights. in august, 1965, the voting rights act was passed. fast forward three days later on march 28 -- three days after dr. king had led that march, dr. king stood in the pulpit of san francisco's grace cathedral as part of their installation service of that new cathedral and stated that this issue, the issue of racism, was the negroes burden "and america's shame". after the voting rights act was passed, 50 years later, 2013 shelby county versus holder stripped from that voting rights act the provisions that safeguarded the voting safety of

african-americans in the south. fast forward to today and we're finding a new assault, a more insidious assault on voting rights in our nation. so we're calling on all of this as we're here this evening and look out through this weekend to call a friend and to call their senators and to call their friend's friends and all of us to get out and push our congress and our senate to enact the voting right legislation that is before them. the freedom to vote act and the john lewis advancement act. voting advancement act. we want to make sure that those are passed. that's why our theme this year is toward justice. dr. king's -- one of dr. king's favorite sayings, the arc of the

moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. it is that bending that is the hard work that we of goodwill must do. we must bend that arc toward justice. and i believe tonight, as you enjoy this inspirational program, my hope is that you will be edfied and empowered to bend that arc toward justice. thank you so much. [applause] >> please welcome to the stage, nationally renowned recording artist d1. >> thank you so much for having me, san francisco. looks good!

my name is d1. i'm going to get straight to it you all. the motto i live by is three up. i need everybody to throw three fingers in the sky right now. these three right here. i'm from new orleans, louisiana and what i like to say when i throw them up is be real, be righteous, be relevant. that's the motto for everything in life. let's go, man. yeah, yeah, mic, check, one two. i'm so thankful. throw your threes up. in the middle, throw our threes up. come on. when you see the threes up. you know what they represent. be real, be righteous, be relevant. what? everybody, when you see the threes up, you know what they represent.

what you say? come on. be real, be righteous -- up top. [ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ i could been rich, but that's another story] and bring my father honor ♪ ♪ they call me jeffrey dahmer. ♪ i mean your content sucks ♪ ♪ i can't cosign that ♪ ♪ look at these mean mugs ♪ ♪ every time i come around ♪ ♪ everybody got these mean mugs]

you know how long it's been since i seen love net ♪ 10% of the people live the life they dreamed of ♪ sfloet i don't focus on the not ♪ ♪ i just focus on the top, san francisco. ♪ let's go be real, be righteous, be relevant ♪ ♪ what you say ♪ ♪ what you say ♪ ♪ dee 1 ♪ ♪ i didn't just get in the rap game to be another artist. i did not get in the rap game to be another rapper. i got in the rap game because i know that god has a plan for my life. and even if i didn't have it all figured out, i know if i use my

gift to make god proud and help people, i would end up where i'm supposed to be. this is called i'm no god. for the hook, i need everybody to say, i know god got a plan for me, but i don't know what it is, i'm just out here trying to handle my biz. let's go. check. [ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ never know how long we got

here ♪ ♪ that's why i'm in the rush snoetd ♪ people think they untouchable ♪ ♪ until they get touched. ♪ ♪ every day i be hustling ♪ ♪ i ain't trying to play the victim ♪ ♪ i never ask the question ♪ ♪ could you pray for me ♪ ♪ i know god got a plan for me ♪ ♪ but i don't know what it is ♪ ♪ i'm just trying to handle my biz ♪ ♪ san francisco! and you and you! ♪ i know god got a plan for me ♪ ♪ i know god got a plan for me ♪ ♪ come on, sing it loud! ♪ i know god got a plan for me ♪ yeah ♪ i know god got a plan for me ♪

♪ too many people in my city found dead lately ♪ ♪ and my girl been leaving me on read lately ♪ ♪ i ain't even tripping ♪ ♪ i told you, i showed you, loved you, support you ♪ ♪ but you can't be trusted ♪ ♪ cut you off like i don't know what ♪ ♪ delivering that music that my family felt ♪ ♪ flow so hot it makes the butter on your pancakes melt ♪ ♪ i see people be complaining about the hand they dealt ♪ ♪ only getting one life and i know i'm too blessed ♪ ♪ i keep my 3's up ♪ ♪ i know god got a plan for me ♪ ♪ but i don't know what it is ♪ ♪ i see you! ♪ i know god got a plan for me ♪ i really mean that you all.

♪ and you and you and you ♪ ♪ i know god got a plan for me ♪ ♪ i know god got a plan for me ♪ ♪ yeah what's up ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ i'm a strong black man ♪ ♪ i ain't got it all figured out, but god got a plan ♪ ♪ yeah, yeah ♪ i appreciate you all, man. thank you all so much. yeah. you all make sure you all streaming all these songs. this next song is off my upcoming album that drops an february 10. it's called finding balance. you can preorder it on itunes. i'm asking you all to do that

because as an independent artist it means we make a statement on the chart, with god-fearing music. this is called finding balance. preorder that and it drops on february 10. before i was a rapper, i was a teacher. i had to take a chance. ♪ see if it's meant to be ♪ ♪ i took a chance on me ♪ ♪ i did not compromise ♪ ♪ i used to want to be the president in 4th grade ♪ ♪ till my teacher said i wasn't

smart enough that was wild ♪ ♪ from that day forward ♪ ♪ i no longer was dreaming big. ♪ i graduated college then i had a revelation ♪ ♪ my best friend got you areded ♪ ♪ can't live with hesitation ♪ ♪ i chose a path most people didn't approve of ♪ ♪ i stopped chasing security ♪ ♪ started chasing love ♪ ♪ nobody's entrepreneur in my family ♪ ♪ so when i quit my job to rap they didn't understand me ♪ ♪ this ain't just a hustle ♪ ♪ this is part of my purpose ♪ ♪ if i'm too scared to chase my own dreams then life is worthless ♪ ♪ i'm the underdog but my god keeps me strong ♪ ♪ taking a chance on me ♪ >> you all make noise for the band right quick. ♪ taking a chance on me ♪ ♪ i've got bleed these dreams ♪ ♪ even if it means i lose

everything ♪ ♪ i had a job and a side hustle finding balance ♪ ♪ one paid me money the other helped me nurture my talents ♪ ♪ i used to sleep three hours a night that ain't healthy ♪ ♪ i made $40,000 a year that ain't wealthy ♪ ♪ through these lyrics inspiration i'm providing ♪ ♪ i made a promise to the students that i used to teach ♪ ♪ i'm going to be successful without xreemzing my beliefs ♪ ♪ just to prove that it's possible so you can see ♪ ♪ what happens when you put your talents in g.o.d. ♪ show people a better way ♪ ♪ i'm going to beat the odds with my hustle and my faith ♪ ♪ taking a chance on me ♪ ♪ born to be wild and free ♪

♪ see if it's meant to be ♪ ♪ i took a chance on me and it worked. ♪ even if it means i lose everything ♪ finding balance, album, february 10, preorder it right now. you heard me. love. this next song for the ladies. at the end of the day, we don't need to be making songs about women if it's calling out their name and disrespecting them. we're going to show you love, that's when we make music about you. personally, the working women in here, i don't think the world is ready for you. so this song, let's go. we're going to say i don't think they ready for you.

♪ i know you got a mama ♪ ♪ i know you got a grandma ♪ ♪ i know you got a wife ♪ ♪ this for all the women ♪ ♪ you snap and go crazy you going to be doing jail time ♪ ♪ people throwing shade, but you don't forget ♪ ♪ nobody was around ♪ ♪ don't forget to treat yourself ♪ ♪ wear your crown ♪ ♪ every day look yourself in the mirror and know your worth ♪ ♪ you in church and it feel like the pastor talking to you ♪ ♪ world are trying to pull you down, but god pulling you through ♪ ♪ to all the ladies, all the queens. everybody put your hands up.

and let me hear you sing. let me hear you sing. i don't think they ready for you ♪ what you say ♪ ♪ i don't think they ready for you ♪ ♪ what you say ♪ ♪ you got a head on your shoulders ♪ ♪ believe you don't care behind your baby ♪ ♪ be working double shifts all day behind your baby ♪ ♪ you pray behind your baby ♪ ♪ two parents in one ♪ ♪ you made a way ♪ ♪ do the mvp ♪ ♪ you my wce seven days out of the week ♪ ♪ but you ain't weak, you deep ♪ ♪ they might not know it now ♪ ♪ but soon as your kids get older ♪ ♪ they'll appreciate the weight you carry on your shoulders ♪ ♪ yeah, you the one i wrote it for ♪ ♪ you deserve a standing o ♪

♪ okay, okay, all the ladies in the house ♪ everybody let me hear you say, let me hear you say. i don't think they ready for you. what you say? i don't think they ready for you. break it down. break it down. [ ♪♪♪ ] i hope you all enjoying this as much as i am. i hope you all enjoying this as much as i am. my name is dee 1. on streaming platform, that is dee 1. but on social media, it's dee 1 music. so make sure you all following, you heard me? this is my instagram and

youtube. dee, the number 1, music. i only got a minute or so before i get out of here. so, look, i'm going to freestyle. i'm going to freestyle off the top of the dome ♪ i'm going to take this last minute ♪ ♪ i'm from new orleans but now i'm in atlanta, that's 404 snoetd ♪ i'm cool, i don't blink you see ♪ ♪ because i got my homey uncle steak with me ♪ ♪ people see i work so hard and they be really ♪ ♪ i going to do it until the devil try to kill me ♪ ♪ i ain't scared of nobody ♪ ♪ this is the story of a one-man army ♪ ♪ i don't care what comes against me ♪ ♪ nobody can harm me ♪ ♪ this is a story of a one-man army ♪ ♪ yeah.

i love you all. i really love you all. martin luther king, jr., we love you, too, brother. it's because of you, that we get to do what we do. we're going to keep your legacy alive, man. san francisco! i'm out! i love you all. thank you so much. >> give it up for dee-1. come on, guys, one more time, dee-1. welcome to the stage, ms. cheryl davis. >> wow. all right. hello, hello. thank you, all, for being here. i enjoy listening to dee-1 and the idea and notion of like i'm going to be chanting that all

night, be real, be righteous be relevant. i have to tell you, i know some of you have had heard this before. i was a kindergarten teacher and dee was the middle schoolteacher. and every time i hear dee-1 talk it reminds me of one of my poe pems and it says, the first line says i love a lot of things like my cousin comes to visit and you know he's from the south. because every word he says just kind of slides out of his mouth. i like the way he whistles and the way he walks, but i love the way he talks. i love the way dee-1 talks. i love the way he raps, speaks and provides encouraging words. as we are here tonight, thank you, all, watching online, those who are here in the audience and took the risk and joined us tonight in person.

dee, you came to this space station, we talk about social justice, conscientious rappers, you know, you didn't talk about it tonight, but your students and the impact and this idea of justice. and fighting for this work. what is that for you? what caused you towards -- what is calling you towards justice? >> well, my spirit never seems at peace when i'm allowing people to be messed over or taken advantage of or when the underprivileged are not given a fair opportunity at winning in life. my spirit isn't at peace. my spirit isn't at peace if i'm using my god-given gifts to spread negativity and hatred. anything other than spreading love, knowledge and empowering people, doesn't feel right to me. you know that nothing in the world beats that inner peace feeling. that comes from knowing that i'm

taking the road less traveled. i'm in the entertainment industry where social justice and activism is seen as something they want to push to the fringes. and i want to push it to the mainstream because as long as i'm on this earth, there is people worth fighting for. >> as you talk about justice, you talk about social justice, but you've also been advocating for financial justice, financial literacy and making sure folks understand from student loan debt to investments in terms of taking care of your community. i know you've been giving money out in your community. >> i have. i have. being from louisiana, you know, we're a hot bed for hurricanes, so we just got hit by hurricane ida in late august of 2021. so many thousands of louisiana residents were impacted, including my own family. my parents are still displaced. they lost their house.

my sister was displaced. my grandpa, i had to move him in with me. with that said, i'm blessed that i have a fan base around this whole country that trusts my heart when it comes to doing work to help the people. so we started the mission vision. that's the name of my company. with the funds we were able to raise, we were able to take a bunch of families around new orleans and sponsor them for the holiday season. and literally, pulling up to people's jobs, houses, church, no matter where they were and people who were directly impacted, we were able to bless them financially. there is no better feeling. i'm always trying to find more ways to give back and be impactful. i can't do it by myself. people help water these seeds and bring them to fruition. >> so say a little bit about the

financial justice in terms of student loan debt. are you still doing work with sally mae? >> i put out a song in 2016 called sally mae bank. i'm a proud college graduate and i did take out student loans. i didn't know what i was doing and i had to learn the hard way. yeah. you all feel me, yeah. that being said, when i signed a record deal and i got a big lump sum for money for the first time in my life, thankfully, i had shared all my desire to fit in and be cool and have a whole bunch of material possessions and name brands define me. being financially literate and debt-free defines me. so i paid all my student loans back. i did the song, sally mae and we've gone around the country

and given out thousands of dollars this college scholarships so students don't have to take out as many loans. you hear me? we've been giving out fish and teaching them how to fish. i'm coming to the schools and doing the assembly. they say, dee-1, this is the most lit assembly we ever had. he performed for us and at the end of the day was able to bless students with scholarships, so that's amazing and i'm humbled by that. >> thank you, all, so much. finding balance, the album, february 10. go on itunes and preorder it. we going to make a statement. peace and love. >> please welcome to the stage national recording artist the soul singer, accompanied by

house band mark phillips and top of the mark. [ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ and you can find the fighter ♪ ♪ ♪ we going to work it out ♪ ♪ and move mountains ♪ ♪ we going to work it out ♪ ♪ and move mountains ♪

♪ i'll rise up ♪ ♪ i'll rise like the day ♪ i'll rise up ♪ ♪ i'll rise unafraid ♪ ♪ i'll rise up ♪ ♪ and i'll do it a thousand times again ♪ ♪ ♪ i'll rise up ♪ ♪ high like the waves ♪ ♪ i'll rise up ♪ ♪ in spite of the ache ♪ ♪ i'll rise up ♪ ♪ and i'll do it a thousand times again ♪ ♪ for you ♪ ♪ you ♪ ♪ you ♪ ♪ you ♪

♪ it feels like it's getting hard to breathe ♪ ♪ i know you feel like dying ♪ ♪ but i promise we'll take the world to its feet ♪ ♪ and move mountains ♪ ♪ i'll rise up ♪ ♪ i'll rise like the day ♪ ♪ ♪ in spite of the ache ♪ ♪ i'll rise up and do it a thousand times again ♪ ♪ for you ♪

♪ all we need ♪ ♪ all we need is hope ♪ ♪ for that we have each other ♪ ♪ and for that we have each other ♪ ♪ and we will rise ♪ ♪ we will rise ♪ ♪ we'll rise ♪ ♪ i'll rise up ♪ ♪ i'll rise like the day ♪ ♪ i'll rise up

♪ i'll rise unafraid ♪ ♪ i'll rise up ♪ ♪ and i'll do it a thousand times again ♪ ♪ and we will rise up ♪ ♪ high like the wind ♪ ♪ rise up in spite of the ache ♪ ♪ we'll rise up and we'll do it a thousand times again ♪ ♪ for you ♪ ♪ for you ♪ ♪ for you ♪ ♪ i will rise up ♪

♪ you will rise up ♪ ♪ we will rise ♪ ♪ we'll rise up ♪ ♪ high like the day ♪ ♪ we'll rise up ♪ ♪ unafraid ♪ ♪ we'll rise up and we'll do it a thousand times again ♪ ♪ for you ♪ ♪ you ♪ ♪ you ♪ >> thank you so much. [applause]

they call me the soul sanger. so if you're looking for me anywhere, just type in the soul sanger. i'm going to do another cover song i hope inspires and moves you. [ ♪♪♪ ] am i in denial ♪

[ ♪♪♪ ] [ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ all i want to do is take the chains off ♪ ♪ all i want to do is be free ♪ ♪ all i wanna do is be free ♪

♪ you tell me why ♪ ♪ every time i step outside ♪ ♪ i see my people down ♪ ♪ oh, ♪ ♪ i'm letting you know ♪ ♪ there ain't no gun out there that can kill my soul ♪ ♪ oh, no ♪ ♪ all i want to do is take the chains off ♪ ♪ all i want to do is take break the chains off ♪ ♪ all i want to do be free ♪ ♪ all i want to do is be free ♪

♪ all i want to do is break the chains off ♪ ♪ all i want to do is break the chains off ♪ ♪ all i want to do is be free ♪ ♪ all i want to do is be free ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ]

♪ all i want to do is be free ♪ ♪ all i want to do is take the chains off ♪ ♪ all i want to do is break them off ♪ ♪ all we want to do is be free ♪ ♪ all we want to do is be free ♪ ♪ free ♪ ♪ all we want to do is be free ♪ ♪ be free ♪

[applause] thank you. >> one more time for the soul sanger! and please, give a round of applause for our house band, marcus phillips and top of the mark. [applause] and now, a virtual performance from hope briggs. [ ♪♪♪ ]

[ ♪♪♪ ] [ ♪♪♪ ]

[ ♪♪♪ ]

[ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ let it shine ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ] [ ♪♪♪ ]

♪ we are not afraid ♪

[ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ the truth shall make us free ♪ ♪ the truth small make us free ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ]

♪ we shall all be free ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ] [ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ we shall overcome some day ♪ ♪ some day ♪

>> please welcome to the stage, derek brown. >> thank you, thank you, so much. derek brown. senior director of the leo t. mccarthy center at the great university of san francisco and it an honor and privilege to be here today. to all the crowds that are here right now, you all look fantastic. thank you so much for coming out, as well as everyone online tuning in. thank you so much for coming out. i hope you are all enjoying the show. i know i am. it has been a great honor to partner with some extraordinary organizations. like m.l.k. nor cow right here in san francisco, with m.l.k. with aaron and all the incredible work he's doing as well as dr. cheryl davis with

the san francisco human rights commission. and myself, as i said before, i'm with the leo t. mccarthy center and for us, we're really focused on service learning, being in service to others and really preparing students for a successful life in public service. so that being said, as we honor m.l.k. day, i want to encourage you all -- i'm sure everyone is going to be doing this, it's a day of service, a week in the service, but i want to encourage you all to continue with your service throughout the year. continue to be in service with others. that's pretty much the work we do with the students. i'm about to take my seat now. but i want to say thank you so much for coming out. enjoy the rest of the show and look forward to seeing you next time. thank you. >> to continue our towards freedom, please welcome to the

stage i am rebel. >> how you all doing tonight? good? everybody having a good night? my name is i am rebel and my music is special to me because i write not only about me, but the people who are marginalized and the people who are not normal, but everyday people struggling to get it together. so this music is for you. i hope you love it. i hope you're encouraged. and let's have some fun tonight. [ ♪♪♪ ]

dproet ♪ i am here to guide you forward ♪ ♪ because the pain you feel is burning ♪ ♪ let's pick up the pieces for you ♪ ♪ so you can carry on ♪

♪ i'll help you face all your fears ♪ ♪ because the pain you feel is the burden ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ i know what you're going through ♪ ♪ i am outcast too ♪ ♪ you can overcome the hatred and abuse ♪ ♪ it's not your fault ♪

♪ because the pain you feel is burning ♪ ♪ pick up the pieces so you can carry on -- >> this is my favorite part -- ♪ you will make it out of this ♪ ♪ i know from my own experience ♪ ♪ not the time to throw in the towel ♪ ♪ you're almost there ♪ ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ]

[ ♪♪♪ ] [ ♪♪♪ ]

thank you, guys, so much. woo. my name is "i am rebel". you can fall all of my music -- i did drop a album last year, woo hoo, my first one. you can find it on all digital outlets. my name is i am rebel on all social media. this next hope, i wrote it in a dark place. and in those dark places there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. so this is talking about that dark place, but it's talking about coming out of it as well, so i hope you get it. [ ♪♪♪ ]

♪ i'm sick and tired ♪ ♪ of being here ♪ this pain, these scars ♪ ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ]

[ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ people don't change ♪ ♪ why must i hope there is something inside of me that won't let me go ♪ ♪ oh ♪ ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ]

♪ don't let go ♪ ♪ i am trying my best ♪ ♪ i'm trying my best ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ]

[ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ life is never easy ♪ ♪ why is it never easy for me ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ] my name is i am rebel, thank

you, guys, so much. have a good night! >> i am rebel. what an amazing journey toward freedom we are on tonight. now for a virtual performance, welcome bishop yvette flunder. moving from acceptance to advocacy. or from monument to movement. today we commemorate the life, ministry and power of the reverend dr. martin luther king. he wrote from a birmingham jail. i want to share from a passage of scripture. acts. about two young men also who

were in prison wrongfully. their prison experience taught us. midnight, the fallen silent, praying and seeing him. the other prisoners were listening. suddenly there was an earthquake and the prison was shaken to its foundation. and all the doors flew open and the chains of every prisoner fell off. the prison was shaken to its foundation and all the doors flew open. and the chains of every prisoner fell off. i want to talk a minute about earthquakes. i'm from san francisco where earthquakes are a way of life. we're conscious of them and we build our buildings with them in mind. because we know what happens when we don't. our history tells us no matter

how fabulous and magnificent we build our a buildings and monuments, because they are, in fact, structures on a living earth, they can be utterly destroyed in seconds by a seismic event. even our monuments have had to respect our movement or risk being destroyed. i remember in the san francisco unified school district, when we were taught to get under our desks or stand in the doorway to protect ourselves, because monuments in an earthquake can be dangerous. our monument has to be retrofitted in san francisco. built to mimic living, moving things. they have to move, sway with the living earth movement. if they can't flex, they will

crack, crumble and come down. and some of the new buildings have rollers. some of them have these devices that look a little bit like bicycle pumps that are really, really big and they bounce. these things built into the foundations. just to survive. and even then some of them will fail because the earth is a living thing. one must know there is a difference between a monument and a movement. history is filled with monuments. i like to call them big formidable institutions. ideologies that divide, separate, diminish and destroy.

often in the name of an angry and punitive god. thank god for shaking the reformations. reformations that reformed and re-inform. i'm grateful for earthquakes of change that shift political concepts and ideas. change that came along and brought an end to many monuments, many ideas, many positions that simply would not die on their own. some folks thought that a big fine old respected institution, a big fine old respected document, a big fine old respected way of life with outdated exclusionary clauses in its rules would be strong enough to hold back a movement, no matter how big and how

structured. the justice shaking will bring every miserable monument down. why? because monuments are not built with movement in mind. monuments are not built with the wind as change in mind. it's movement that freed the slaves. movement that got women to vote. movements that brought justice to workers. and a movement that brought and is bringing equal rights to the same gender-loving community, trans-community, gender nonconforming community and all of us who were exiled. acceptance is good. there are those who accept, but there is little or no action in acceptance. people can do acceptance personally and privately.

but movement requires action. advocacy is movement and often movement with risk. putting one's self in harm's way, putting one's neck out, risks assassination, taking the heat, getting in the fray, taking a public position, joining the movement, acting up, acting out. but we are not moving from a weak place, for the divine is able to do exceedingly abundantly all we can think. according to the power that is in us, all things are possible. all things. you see, god and good is about movement. much like a growing stream. water doesn't freeze when it's moving.

monuments fall. therefore, movement every time. we see god and good is not privately owned by a party, by a president, not owned by one race or another race. god and good is not owned by the rich. god and good is not owned by those who live way out in neighborhoods where the housing insecure and the food insecure are not only not welcome, but are abused. you see, god is not a privately owned stagnate pond, but a fresh flowing river filled with truth and extravagant welcome. i say to my beloved, no matter what may be, the perfect storm that we are in now, in politics, in our environment, in our relationship to other nations,

no matter what this day may bring, sickness, illness, frustration, anger. no matter how people are saying they will never see a bright day. there will be no sun. i want to say something to you today. stay in the movement. stay in the movement. continue to do your justice work. go up in the attic, get your signs and your birkenstocks down again. let's march, let's walk, let's declare that not only shall we move, but we shall prevail. why? because we are a movement that refuses to be a monument and we're in the midst of a love movement that will redefine the definition of our neighbor. god bless you as we commemorate dr. martin luther king, who was taken to us in the middle of

bringing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly before god. today we celebrate a movement warrior. god bless you. >> thank you for that message, bishop. now, please welcome to the stage, gospel recording artist,. the first song is about watching god work. do i have believers that believe that? this song says watch god work. [ ♪♪♪ ]

♪ like the time i opened the sea, the god says, watch me ♪ ♪ like david and the giants, what a victory ♪ ♪ just like that, watch me ♪ ♪ stay right where you are, god says ♪ ♪ i will do great things ♪ ♪ watch me ♪ ♪ because i'm still able to do more than you can ask or think ♪ ♪ my child, watch me ♪ ♪ just watch me ♪

♪ god said i heard you when you ♪ i still have the power to fix anything ♪ ♪ just watch me ♪ ♪ i'm the god of every miracle ♪ ♪ bigger than anything you've ever seen ♪ ♪ all you have to do is ♪ ♪ watch me, yeah ♪

♪ god says, i'm not through blessing all of you ♪ ♪ just wait and see ♪ ♪ i've got great things for you ♪ ♪ i'm going to come through ♪ ♪ all you have to do is bring your problems to me ♪ ♪ and let me handle them ♪ ♪ god said watch me ♪ ♪ watch me ♪ ♪ i'll fix anything ♪ ♪ i can change anything ♪ ♪ i can make everything better when you step back and ♪ ♪ watch me work ♪ ♪ as only i can do ♪

♪ do the impossible ♪ ♪ ♪ a big 'ole blessing is on the way ♪ ♪ give me your worries and take my peace ♪ ♪ give me your pain and i will give you my joy ♪ ♪ give me your brokenness and let me make you whole ♪ ♪ looking up ♪ ♪ watch me work ♪ ♪ all you got to do is ♪ ♪ watch, watch, watch ♪ ♪ because god -- he's the one that's fighting for you ♪ ♪ cast every ♪ ♪ care you have ♪ ♪ he'll do it ♪ ♪ he'll change it ♪ ♪ he'll work it out ♪

♪ he's not through ♪ ♪ he's not through blessing you ♪ ♪ there's still a victory ♪ ♪ watch him work ♪ ♪ god says work is what i'm doing ♪ ♪ watch me ♪ god has big things for us. i'm ready for him. come on, 2022. this next song says, in the midst of waiting for watching god, do big things in our lives. we have to be grateful for what he's already done. anybody grateful for what he's already done? yes. we're alive, breathing, even in the midst of this pandemic. we still can find some happy, at least i can.

i'm thankful i'm not on a ventilator tonight, i'm not in a house enjoying this. i'm in the presence of you all. and i'm able to do all this on my own without any assistance. it's a blessing to breathe on your own, walk on your own. the things we call the small things are now very big things. that we, you know -- we don't take any longer for granted. so this is another song that says we're grateful. even if you're in the midst of the trial, god will see to it that you come out all right. [ ♪♪♪ ] [ ♪♪♪ ]

♪ that's not the life way is always going to be ♪ ♪ but we have to have ♪ so that we learn to appreciate the good times ♪ ♪ god wants us to be grateful ♪

[ ♪♪♪ ] ♪ he feels them just like you ♪ ♪ but he cannot afford to let you feel ♪ ♪ that you learn to appreciate

♪ be grateful ♪ ♪ make sure that you're always grateful ♪ ♪ you have to be grateful ♪ ♪ be grateful ♪ ♪ someone else would love to stand in your shoes ♪ ♪ just be grateful, be grateful ♪ ♪ you're going to come out all right ♪ ♪ many are the afflictions of the righteous ♪ ♪ but god promised that he would bring us out of them all ♪ ♪ you got to be grateful ♪ ♪ ♪ through the life's

heartaches ♪ ♪ and all of the pain ♪ ♪ be grateful ♪ ♪ he has a plan for it all ♪ ♪ he never, ever leave you ♪ ♪ he'll never forsake you, yeah ♪ ♪ all things work together ♪ ♪ for your good and my good, our good ♪ ♪ don't panic, don't have anxiety ♪ ♪ god promised that he'll always come through for you and me ♪ ♪ be, be, be, be ♪ ♪ you got to find a way to be grateful ♪ ♪ oh ♪ ♪ yeah ♪

♪ we may not have everything that we want, but god sees to it that we have ♪ ♪ everything that we need ♪ ♪ it will be all right ♪ [ ♪♪♪ ] it's going to be all right. struggles are temporary. god is eternal. this last song, just says -- i'm an optimist. the best is yet to come. yes, we have suffered loss, but i still feel that god has some

great things on the way that will blow our socks off, blow our minds. this song just says, you ain't seen nothing yet. he's not finished pouring out. just us moving forward in society. i think he still has great things for even that. so we want to just encourage you that the best is yet to come. keep holding on. keep looking up. you can clap with me if you want. ♪ hold on, hold, on ♪ ♪ you say ♪ ♪ hold on, hold on, hold on ♪

♪ hold on my brother don't give up ♪ ♪ hold on my sister just keep looking up ♪ ♪ there is a master plan in store for you ♪ ♪ if you can make it through ♪ ♪ god's going to really blow your mind ♪ ♪ he's going to make it work ♪ ♪ for all of the struggles you've been through ♪ ♪ the blessings are going to double just for you ♪ ♪ all the best is yet to come ♪ ♪ hold on my brother, don't give up ♪ ♪ don't give up ♪ ♪ hold on my sister, just look up ♪ ♪ because there is a master

plan ♪ ♪ in store for you ♪ ♪ if you can make -- make it through ♪ ♪ god is going to make it worth all of your time ♪ ♪ for all of your struggle you get through ♪ ♪ the blessings they double and triple just for you ♪ ♪ the best is yet to come ♪ ♪ yes, it is ♪ ♪ the best is yet to come ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ ♪ today is the first day of the best days of our lives ♪ woo! ♪ today is the first day of the best days of your life ♪ ♪ today is the first day of the

best days of your life ♪ ♪ the best ♪ ♪ yeah ♪ ♪ the best is yet to come ♪ ♪ the best ♪ we believe the best is yet to come ♪ ♪ today is the first day of the best days of our lives ♪ ♪ today is the first day of the best days of our lives ♪ today is the first day of the best day of your life. yeah, the best is yet to come. the best is yet to come.

[music playing] you guys ain't seen nothing yet. god is just getting started. but he's not through blessing you. he's not through blessing you! you ain't seen nothing, you ain't seen nothing yet. you ain't seen nothing. you ain't seen nothing yet. you ain't seen nothing. you ain't seen nothing yet. you ain't seen nothing. you ain't seen nothing yet. you ain't seen nothing.

you ain't seen nothing yet. you ain't seen nothing. you ain't seen nothing yet. you ain't seen nothing. you ain't seen nothing yet. you ain't seen nothing. you ain't seen nothing -- i'm lena byrd miles, god bless you. thank you so much. [music playing]

[music playing] >> one more time, for lena byrd miles! what a fantastic journey we've been on tonight. now, please welcome back to the stage to close us out tonight, mrs. cheryl davis. [applause] >> can you just give another round of applause for all of the folks who shared with us tonight. [applause] oh, man, i am as the old folks used to say when i was in church, i am so full of bright. what an incredible evening. what gratitude i have for everyone who made it all happen. special thanks to the stage crew and the staff here at the theater.

give it up for them. i really just want to recognize because we made the decision to still kind of try to be live for the performers, even though we wanted to limit how many people were coming in. so i just want to give it up to the theater for opening up their doors and still letting us be safe with each other. for bringing this event to life in the midst of a challenging time. give it up to the folks that are helping us from s.f. gov tv. broadcasting live stream and making it all look great. we have heard amazing stories and voices through song and just the idea and notion of freedom. and freedom and moving towards justice, but the role of music in that. please, if you get the opportunity, re-share the link to this so folks can hear what we were able to witness in person tonight. so, again, give it up for s.f.

gov to make it possible to share this. gratitude to the staff members at the m.l.k. north cal foundation, aaron and his team. thank you to derek brown. i want to give a special shoutout to the folks at the human rights commission. every time we come up with an idea, the team steps up to make it happen. give them a hand for their support. i want to give special thanks to those live streaming this on facebook. everybody has been hitting us online and saying, whose voice is that? give it up for josh. this is a term i hadn't heard. apparently it's called the voice of god, like in performance world. so when you don't see the person, but you hear them from the back, so josh has been the

voice of god tonight. thank you, josh. i want to thank sarah and william. she was not able to be here, but i want to give her a huge shoutout, because when we had the vision of doing this, sara was ready, willing and able to bring together the amazing talent tonight. give a round of applause. i want to give another shoutout to marcus phillips and top of the mark for being here tonight. awesome job. maria and debbie. give it up for debbie who has been leading and touching hands with everyone. give her a round of applause. on behalf of aaron, derek, thank you to all who joined us, whether here in the theater or virtually online from home. thank you for joining us in this journey towards justice and freedom and to remember and respect and celebrate the legacy

of dr. king. so, thank you all again for being with us. and, please, if you have time, go back and look at this again, because it is beautiful. thank you and good night. [ ♪♪♪ ] [applause].

>> shop and dine the 49 challenges residents to do they're shopping with the 49ers of san francisco by supporting the services within the feigned

we help san francisco remain unique and successful and rib rant where will you shop the shop and dine the 49 i'm e jonl i provide sweets square feet potpie and peach cobbler and i started my business this is my baby i started out of high home and he would back for friends and coworkers they'll tell you hoa you need to open up a shop at the time he move forward book to the bayview and i thinks the t line was up i need have a shop on third street i live in bayview and i wanted to have my shop here in bayview a quality dessert shot shop in my

neighborhood in any business is different everybody is in small banishes there are homemade recess pesz and ingredients from scratch we shop local because we have someone that is here in your city or your neighborhood that is provide you with is service with quality ingredients and quality products and need to be know that person the person behind the products it is not like okay. who

this meeting will come to order. this is the february 2nd, 2022, budget and finance committee. the 2nd of 2022. committee members asha safai. mr. clerk, do you have any announcements? >> clerk: yes, mr. chair, to the same extent as though physically present. the board recognizes that public access to city services is essential and invite public participation in the following ways. public