tv Mayors Press Availability SFGTV March 27, 2022 2:30pm-3:01pm PDT
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downtown partners to show our support and commitment to the economic recovery of the city. we are committed to this effort and are thrilled to welcome back people to downtown. i'm honored to introduce our steadfast leader during a challenging time, but we're turning the corner. mayor breed, we look forward to the continued partnership of the downtown recovery plan, and welcome back to s.f. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you, neela, and it's great to be here at selhurst park in the
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city, let me tell you, if you don't live here, you would want to. this is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and it's great because the weather is nice, but there's been something missing for sometime, and that's the people. yes, the diversity, the folks from all over are what make san francisco so amazing. so when i reached out to members of the business community and asked them to work with me and join us in returning to work from march, so many businesses stepped up and said yes. so part of what we know is businesses don't just open up, and restaurants open up, and people move about, we've been
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cooped up for two years. a global pandemic has kept us apart like never about, and now that we're emerging, we have so much to do. we were the first country to shutdown, san francisco, and we saved thousands of lives because of it. and now, 83% of san franciscans are vaccinated and counting. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: so we have something to be proud of, but no one likes to have a good time more than san francisco. no one takes fun more seriously than san francisco, and so part of the fun means when we come back, we need to see some amazing gatherings. i welcome our salesforce and c.b.d.s and others who came
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together with places like the flower mart to say basically that not only are we coming back, but we're going to come back. if you have not been to club fugazi and have seen the show, boy, are you missing out. that show is extraordinary, and so we're bringing a little sneak peek out for everyone to see and enjoy. make sure you go and see the
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bigger show because boy, it makes you feel good about san francisco. it makes you feel good being a part of this extraordinary city. thanks to lyft -- to lyft who are providing free bikes and scooters to get around the city, and make sure you visit places in the city that are going to host some of these activities because we are back. we are back, and now, it's time to appreciate life like never before. thank you to so many of our partners, and now, i want to introduce kip to make some remarks. he has put a lot of this together, and we welcome his advocacy and his leadership and answering the call when we
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needed it. before i do that, i just want to give a shoutout because i know what's been on the top of everybody's mind. our community ambassadors in the orange jackets all over the city, we have retired police officers who are working as ambassadors, and so we are going to do everything we can to make sure that san francisco continues to be this extraordinary place that keeps a smile on your face, and thank you all so much for coming here today. and with that, i want to introduce kip from east cut. >> thank you, mayor breed, and thank you to you and your team for your tireless efforts in
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trying to bring people and businesses back to the city. so what i thought i'd do is just share a few remarks about how our group came together and why we came together, and it's really no secret that covid has been a huge challenge cities. there's not a lot more that can be done to encourage people to come back to downtown, and if you recall, we started the process at the end of last year before omicron, and the chronicle had an interview with a small business owner, and he said it's great that restrictions are being lifted, but we need to show that things
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are different, and it was that concept, that don't just tell me, show me, that things were different to bring this s.f., this bloomsf at the end of march. and so in conjunction with the mayor's recovery team, we sat down and said what can we do to help? and the decision was let's put together a celebration, let's give people a reason to come back downtown. and a vibrant downtown is not only critical for our recovery but for the long-term health of this city. this is where serendipity happens. these things happen unscripted and unplanned when we're down here, and this is where we come to eat, to shop, to be
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entertained. we know that precovid, technology can serve to isolate us, and covid has exacerbated that, so these events are so critical for us to be together. so bloomsf at the end of this month will be a celebration. our group determined that that event would be more compelling. we'll see a wine walk, outdoor deejays. we'll have the launch of the outdoor cinema at the crossing. that'll be complemented by art installations at b.a.r.t. and muni stations. it's going to be a really fun weekend, so if you're a business, don't just encourage employees to come back, encourage them to come out.
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if you're a worker who's hesitant, come back and rediscover what it is you love about your co-workers and what you love about downtown. we hope you all come back this weekend and help in getting downtown back on its feet. with that, i want to introduce robert tibbetts with an architecture firm, one of the businesses that's committed to bring people back in the month of march. rob? [applause] >> thank you. i do just want to take a moment to thank the mayor for her leadership. two years ago, you made a difficult decision in the face
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of fierce opposition from other levels of government, and steered us through this, and i don't know that we've said we appreciate you for that. all right. coming back to work, we're all going to wear pants and shoes. we have 200 people coming back to work, and we're a design firm, so we need to work together. we need to see each other. there's a certain magic and collective creativity that just isn't possible on zoom, and that's just real exciting. on the way to work, we'll stop and get coffee and doughnuts, and on the way home, we'll stop and get our shoes repaired, get soup and salad for dinner, and we'll start to gather. we are going to be making our
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community a better place, and we are committed to doing that. we have a great city, let's make it even greater. thank you. [applause] >> all right. next up, going to recognize and introduce -- just say as a san francisco native, i'm proud to introduce denise tran, owner and founder of a small business eatery in san francisco. [applause] >> hi, everyone. i just want to thank mayor breed for this opportunity to speak on small businesses in downtown. i am the founder of a bhan-mi
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sandwich eatery, two locations, one at the airport, and one on market stleet, just a few weeks from here. i have to -- street, just a few weeks from here. i have to say three of my locations have reopened, except for the one on market street. the small mom-and-pop businesses in downtown san francisco that make san francisco so unique desperately need folks to come back to work. my shop, my little sandwich shop, relies on catering and office business and office lunches, and unfortunately,
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we're still closed, so i'm so excited for this opportunity today, for the mayor to call businesses back to work because this gives us an opportunity to open our shop again and do what we love best. san francisco, we're all, under the leadership of mayor breed, have done such an amazing job of keeping everyone safe during such a hard time. let's continue to work together to bring back tourism to our city, to bring back conferences and businesses. let's bring back all the great things that we love about this city again, so thank you for this opportunity, and i look forward to what's coming our way.
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thank you so much. [applause] >> all right. next up, we're going to have the mayor come back and introduce one of her favorite groups. >> the hon. london breed: i am? >> yeah. >> the hon. london breed: okay. well, just to top it off and give you a bit of a little bit of a taste of what you can expect from all of the great activities that we're going to be adding to san francisco, right now, we have a performance from seven finger circus. they perform at club fugazi, and here's just a tidbit of here's san francisco. [♪♪♪]
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[applause] >> the hon. london breed: big round of applaud for seven finger circus. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: whoa! goodness, doesn't that make you nervous? do i clap? i don't want to mess them up, right? well, this is what you're going to be seeing all over san francisco, and we want to thank all of you for coming, all the businesses who committed to bringing their employees back during the month of march. i've already seen some of the
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lines at some of the businesses downtown, so we want our businesses reopened, we want our economy going again, we want to be out and about, enjoying our beautiful city, so again, it is not too late. it is still the month of march, so bring your folks back two, three, four, five days a week or bring them back for dinner, bring them back to see san francisco at club fugazi, bring them back to the flower mart. it is time to takeoff those pajama pants and go down. we are open for business, san francisco. thank you all so much for coming today. [♪♪♪] [applause]
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families, immigrants, seniors, merchants, workers and the housed and unhoused who all deserve a thriving neighborhood to call home. the tenderloin initiative was launched to improve safety, reduce crime, connect people to services and increase investments in the neighborhood. as city and community-based partners, we work daily to make these changes a reality. we invite you to the tenderloin history, inclusivity make this neighborhood special. >> we're all citizens of san francisco and we deserve food, water, shelter, all of those things that any system would. >> what i find the most fulfilling about being in the tenderloin is that it's really basically a big family here and i love working and living here. >> [speaking foreign language]
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>> my hopes and dreams for the tenderloin are what any other community organizer would want for their community, safe, clean streets for everyone and good operating conditions for small businesses. >> everything in the tenderloin is very good. the food is very good. if you go to any restaurant in san francisco, you will feel like oh, wow, the food is great. the people are nice. >> it is a place where it embraces all walks of life and different cultures. so this is the soul of the tenderloin. it's really welcoming. the. >> the tenderloin is so full of color and so full of people. so with all of us being together and making it feel very safe is challenging, but
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we are working on it and we are getting there. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> so i grew up in cambridge, massachusetts and i was very fortunate to meet my future wife, now my wife while we were both attending graduate school at m.i.t., studying urban planning. so this is her hometown. so, we fell in love and moved to her city. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪] >> i was introduced to this part of town while working on a campaign for gavin, who is running for mayor. i was one of the organizers out here and i met the people and i fell in love with them in the neighborhood. so it also was a place in the city that at the time that i could afford to buy a home and i wanted to own my own home. this is where we laid down our
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roots like many people in this neighborhood and we started our family and this is where we are going to be. i mean we are the part of san francisco. it's the two neighborhoods with the most children under the age of 18. everybody likes to talk about how san francisco is not family-friendly, there are not a lot of children and families. we have predominately single family homes. as i said, people move here to buy their first home, maybe with multiple family members or multiple families in the same home and they laid down their roots. [♪♪♪] >> it's different because again, we have little small storefronts. we don't have light industrial space or space where you can
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build high-rises or large office buildings. so the tech boom will never hit our neighborhood in that way when it comes to jobs. >> turkey, cheddar, avocado, lettuce and mayo, and little bit of mustard. that's my usual. >> mike is the owner, born and bred in the neighborhood. he worked in the drugstore forever. he saved his money and opened up his own spot. we're always going to support home grown businesses and he spent generations living in this part of town, focusing on the family, and the vibe is great and people feel at home. it's like a little community gathering spot. >> this is the part of the city with a small town feel.
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a lot of mom and pop businesses, a lot of family run businesses. there is a conversation on whether starbucks would come in. i think there are some people that would embrace that. i think there are others that would prefer that not to be. i think we moved beyond that conversation. i think where we are now, we really want to enhance and embrace and encourage the businesses and small businesses that we have here. in fact, it's more of a mom and pop style business. i think at the end of the day, what we're really trying to do is encourage and embrace the diversity and enhance that diversity of businesses we already have. we're the only supervisor in the city that has a permanent district office. a lot of folks use cafes or use offices or different places, but i want out and was able to raise
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money and open up a spot that we could pay for. i'm very fortunate to have that. >> hi, good to see you. just wanted to say hi, hi to the owner, see how he's doing. everything okay? >> yeah. >> good. >> we spend the entire day in the district so we can talk to constituents and talk to small businesses. we put money in the budget so you guys could be out here. this is like a commercial corridor, so they focus on cleaning the streets and it made a significant impact as you can see. what an improvement it has made to have you guys out here. >> for sure. >> we have a significantly diverse neighborhood and population. so i think that's the richness
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