>> thank you, everybody, for your patience. i'm san francisco mayor london breed. and we're here today at city hall with a number of city officials as well as our community partners to talk about one of our favorite times of the year, 4/20. we know in the past we have not been smiling about 4/20. in fact, it experienced a number of challenges and fortunately from the past we have learned how to adapt, how to adjust, and how to make the event a more enjoyable event not just for the people who come from all over the pay area to attend, but especially for the people who live in the surrounding community and the san franciscans commuting home from work at that time. and i want to start by saying it is a tough two years. and here we are back together

again. back having great events. and in fact, this past week the giants and their home opening season happened at oracle park. yesterday for the first time in 1964, the warriors played a playoff game in san francisco, which was really exciting. and this weekend the cherry blossom festival was packed with visitors. people are coming back and covid is a challenging two years for us. what we are seeing with the number of people who are vaccinated and what we are seeing because of all the precautions that we have taken over the past two years that we are living with covid. and at the same time we are seeing a significant difference in how we are able to come

together because we have adapted and now as a result, we're able to have major events and to enjoy our lives once again. and of course, 4/20 is no different. we know that this event at one point, unsanctioned event, was occurring whether we wanted it to or not. and over the years and working with the cannabis industry, we have been able to make adjustments in order to provide the appropriate safety and restroom facilities and cleanup necessary in order to ensure that this was not as problematic on the people who live and visit the area. and provide additional transportation and other things that were very much problematic in the past. eventually we were lucky to have alex step up as a native san franciscan and someone who understands and works within the industry to step up and to

coordinate it and make it a more organized event. and so he is yet again stepped up this year to provide sponsorship so this event will have food, entertainment, and for the first time because of changes to local state laws, there will be on site cannabis sales at the location. and what that means, to be clear, whether there are sales or not, the fact is under state law if you are under the age of 21, you will not be allowed within the facility. so this is going to be the first time that this is done. you will be turned away as prof of age will be required. we will have the various city agencies and the area to address some of those challenges. we know that when people begin to lead the event we will have bus shuttle services to take

people directly to bart. traffic will be challenging but we will do everything that we can with our parking control officers to mitigate and manage traffic during this time. we will make sure the area is clean and if someone is parked in your garage, they will be tikt and towed. we will do everything we can to make sure this experience is not as problematic as it has been for the people of san francisco and neighbors. and just so you all are aware, i checked the weather. there is a 40% chance of rain. who knows what may or may not happen on 4/20. but the fact is regardless, we are prepared. we will have police officers, parking patrol officers, park police officers, and a number of other officials in the surrounding area to manage this event in a way that not only

makes it an enjoyable and safe place for all those who are coming but more importantly, we want to make sure that the city is able to host this just like any other major event so that people are safe and people have an enjoyable time. i want to thank all of you for being here today and we will have a number of our partners here from the city department talk specifically what the plans are and roles are to be prepared with the respective departments. we will start with the director of the department of rec and park phil ginsburg. >> thank you, mayor. as the mayor said, after two long years, we are almost looking forward to this kind, kind of, sort of. it is thrilling to have big celebrations in the park again. and the beloved park was a lifesaver during the pandemic

and where everybody could be outside and pursue the physical health and mental community and it continues to be on oasis for fun and reflected on the other parts of the city, the park is hopping, but. let's show our appreciation for our amazing park and the respected reserves and encourage people to have fun and celebrate, but throwaway your trash. take transit, and treat the neighborhood and a the park as if it was your own. the mayor highlighted is changes. you cannot get into the event if you are not 21 years old. and not only -- we will be checking i.d. and we will also be checking vaccination status. be prepared for that. and then lastly, just a big thanks. the mayor when she was supervisor kind of went out on a limb on this. you tried to figure out

acknowledging this is an event that had been happening to our city before cannabis was legal. and the mayor really thought through how to acknowledge this happens and how to do it safely. and even somewhat joyously. four or five years later we have gotten better at this and a tremendous amount of infrastructure, trash cans, port-a-potties, and we have beginning, middle and end of our event. for that in addition to thanking the mayor and all my colleagues who are city departments here, i wanted to thank alex and katrina of sounds bizarre as well as their sponsors for providing the infrastructure to keep the park safe and to be kind and respectful of the neighborhood. and so with that, this is a joint effort. and i will bring up nakesh patel from the office of cannabis.

thank you. >> that was going to be my pun. thank you for taking that. good morning, everyone. much like director ginsburg, we want to thank the mayor for making this event possible and for supporting it and all the city departments who are here including those that are also not here who we have been working with tirelessly for the past several months to make sure this event creates a safe and fun experience for everyone included. with that i also want to thank alex aquino and his team for working so closely with our office. 4/20 at hippie hill will be experiencing an extraordinary moment in the history. legal cannabis will be available for sale and consumption at the event for the first time in the event's history. that is a special moment and fitting for those in san francisco. and how this event goes will

dictate how future events in this case, cannabis permitted events, will go. the success of this event will set the tone for other events. it is fitting that this is one of the first events that the office of cannabis and it is important we get this right. they are at their bottom to create a safe and clean and fun experience for everyone who attend. it is imperative they are followed. and as mentioned here a handful of times, per state regulations no, one under the age of 21 will be permitted into the event. i.d.'s will be checked. another big event is cannabis will be available for purchase on site from approved vendors. these are lab tested products, regulated product, and they are vital to ensuring that this experience is safe for everyone who is there. that being said, we are encouraging everyone who plans to i a tend to purchase their

products from the approved vendor. it is imperative from a public health and safety standpoint and particularly the equity cannabis dispensaries and equity products that have worked to get the products on to open the businesses and carve a footprint in san francisco's cannabis industry. i additionally, cannabis will be allowed within the marked perimeter of the event. there are areas where no smoking will be enforced, and there will be signs. additionally, within 20 feet of anywhere you can purchase cannabis and food and those will be smoke-free zones. this is an amazing opportunity to show case the cannabis community and to follow the requirements and be respectful of your neighbors and have a light time. and with that, i invite officer chief scott to the podium.

>> thank you, nakesh. good morning, everybody. not to reiterate -- well, i will reiterate because that is my job. i want to eare iterate a few thing -- to reiterate a few things that the mayor mentioned and the director and nakesh as well. no one under 21 will be permitted and we know in the past families have come out and teenageers have been invited to the event, sometimes by parents. please, please, take heed to the rules. no one under 21 because if you bring teenagers or kids, they will not be admitted. also, no drones. no alcohol, no illegal, no weapons, period, legal or otherwise. no vending, no bbqs, no pets and things of that nature. this is all about safety. we want people to come out and enjoy themselves and as has been said but all the speakers so far, we have to get this right. and like most things, let's show

the world that san francisco knows how to do things and know how to do them right. and we need your cooperation and we need people to follow the rules. and we will be there in full force. and they have officers that are at the command post at the park and a command post at park station. and patrolling the perimeter of hippie hill and the surrounding areas. and working with the partners and the parking control officers under the director of leadership tumlin that you will hear from in a second. and follow the rules of the road. as the mayor said, if you are blocking drive waist or parking illegally, you will be cited. and you will most likely be towed as well. in the best case scenario, help us out and make it a great event and show the world that san francisco leads the way.

and now i will introduce one of my partners in public safety, chief janine nicholson from the fire department. >> thanks, chief scott. good morning, everyone. and the fire department has a couple of roles here. we are fire prevention. personnel will be on scene during the entire event making sure that everything is safe from a fire department perspective. i know there will be a medical plan in place for the event that includes e.m.s. we are not staffing that, but we are up staffing our units, our medic units on the outside to be able to respond appropriately and quickly. we want everybody to have a good time and a safe time and please

keep an eye out for each other out there. there is all sorts of stuff that might get into something you take, not from this authorized place, but keep an eye on your friends. and call 911 if you need us. and i would now like to introduce the director of the sfmta, jeff tumlin. >> thank you, chief. as should come as no surprise to any of you, if you want to enjoy 4/20 day safely and fully, please do not drive. all of the muni lines serving golden gate park are fully operational. if you are coming from downtown or bart, we urge you to take either the 78 bus or transfer to the n judah which will get additional service on 4/20. we have upgraded many of the

bike routes throughout san francisco during covid and there is a car free route from the panhandle all the way to ocean beach through golden gate park. please take muni, walk, or bike to the event. for additional details, we urge you to go to the sfmta website at sfmta.com/420. we'll be writing updates there as well as on our twitter feed. please come and enjoy 4/20 day safely. thank you so much. and now back to mayor breed. >> thank you, jeff. i just want to reiterate many of the parking control officers will be directing traffic and will be in the area to respond to 311 complaints if someone is blocking someone's driveway or if someone is illegally parking and in such a way that might be problematic to public safety. and people who live in the area, call 311 and the response team

will be very quickly on 4/20 to insure that people are not impacted by people who will choose to drive and maybe park in a way that might be problematic for the people in the community. i also want to take this opportunity to remind us of what could happen if things become unruly or problematic. and we are all here as phil ginsburg said, reluctantly welcoming 4/20 unlike in the past. more so because, of course, we support our cannabis industry and we support people being able to come together safely and in we have to make changes if these events become harmful or unsafe in any way. we will do so. and many of us probably remember the unsanctioned event of halloween and the castro which unfortunately is no longer, is something that i used to love to

attend. but it got to a point where it became increasingly safe and finally elevating to, sadly a shooting that led to this unsanctioned event no longer existing in san francisco and the way it did before. and we hope that doesn't happen with 4/20. and we're asking everyone who comes to attend this event to come with excitement and happiness and a desire to have joy during the event and here to talk a little bit about what will actually be happening on the ground who is coordinating all the activities is alex. >> thank you, mayor. i am one of the organizers and city partners with this event. thank you. so i want to be on the lighter side of what is actually going on. anyway, echoing the office of cannabis, we encourage people to purchase legal and safe tested

product. and products from the vendors on site and from the local businesses. we are community in cultural event and based on sponsorship and donation and any support of this in the corridor of the neighborhood, we actually put 30 port-a-potties within the neighborhood for people to use, so when you come to the neighborhood, use the port-a-potties an not the neighbor's door front. being said, keep it safe and clean. and that is the main thing. we need to make it fun and at the same time make it -- happy occasion and fun occasion. and that being said, we are proud to have re/max as the presenting sponsor. and back to the programming and a dedication to robin william. we know robin williams meadow

was renamed several years ago and doing a dedication to him and a mural on eighth street from masonic. and we are doing programming with comedians jeff ross and hannah birch and the d.j. dozer and his set is dedicated to robin williams each year. and again, we are doing something new this year. it is like we teamed up with united players for a community and compassion award. and giving it to eve meyer who is a retired executive director for the census and suicide prevention and has been saving lives for 30 years. we want to give her flowers while she is here and we want to celebrate here. that is some of the programming that we are doing today or on 4/20. thank you.

>> thank you, alex. thank you for putting together such a great program. there will be performances, food, music, cannabis, and all the money you spend at this event pretty much supports the businesses and also provides financial support to continue to make sure that the port-a-potties are available, that all the things we need to do to make this event safe and that it is supported and appreciate alex and his sponsors who are coming together. and i will say jeff ross is funny and you probably don't want to miss that along with the other things that go on. and thank you to all of the city departments and thank you to all of our community sponsors. and thank you to the people who regularly attend 4/20 because i will say that sense we have been a lot more organized from the city side, it is really been a great event for san francisco, one that we're proud of and can

continue to be proud of moving into the future. and with that, we'll open it up to any questions related to the event. [question inaudible] >> you have been critical of 4/20 in the past. do you think cannabis can be a viable part -- >> an i think you are mischaracterizing the criticalness. it had a lot to do with, sadly, the damage to the neighborhood. there were a number of real challenges to people's homes and businesses after the 4/20 event let out. there was also issues with people who were blocking people's driveways and the traffic was a nightmare. there was no real involvement at one point from the city in terms of any sort of structure or

management. i mean, this is a large event. and there are a lot of people who attend the event. and then there were a lot of people who were underage. let's also remind the public under the law there technically is no smoking in the park. so the criticism had a lot to do with not necessarily the marijuana industry, but how the impact of 4/20, which was an unsanctioned event created a little bit of chaos and problems for the city. not to mention the ability to get out of san francisco. i mean, you should have seen not just the upper hate but the lower hate and what happened with people who were not only on the sidewalk and spilled into the street and cars couldn't go past and it was a mightary. my criticism had everything to do with the fact that the city was not prepared for what was happening with h 4/20. instead of making it difficult

to make 4/20 happe i along with former mayor ed lee, came together to make it better, safer, and deal with the transportation challenges. in fact, the city from that point forward before there was a sponsor continued to spend the enormous amount of resources to ensure the safety of the people who not only attend this event but the people who live in the community. a lot of the change and the excitement has everything to do with actually having a sponsor to help pay for the expenses. having some various structure and organization to ensure that we know what is going on and i will say the last 4/20 that happened if you were there after it was over and we had the signage and leading up to 4/20 and telling people to be aware and traffic impact and secondly, when it was over, the muni

shuttle buses taking people downtown and no stops and it just worked so well and is something we can be really proud of. and as a city official, my responsibility is to the people of san francisco. and making sure no matter what kind of event it is at large-scale event and don't have a negative impact on the neighborhood and people are safe. and really where many of the criticism came from and not necessarily at the industry. we have a lot of cannabis industries and in the city and the state is going to be the

impact and with the various areas and with this event and the financial impacts on the city and i would say that you are losing money and more so than making money and people come to san francisco and not the economic impact and cannabis as a whole and the industry plays the important role in the economy and we want to make sure that in addition to the economic role, that we maintain the level of safety and security and

regulation. [question inaudible] >> i have director tumlin comment on the mask mandate. we are living with covid and it is a part of what is going to be. the biggest difference is we have vaccines and we have a lot of people who are getting vaccinated and even as we see this new variant, what we are finding under the information from the department of health

and people are getting infected but more than likely they are not going to the hospital and we have always been concerned about the number of people hospitalized and dying from covid. and i think because of the vaccine and the time that we have been in this and the department of public health has lifted a number of mask mandates and a number of other requirements which gives us comfort in hosting this event of this magnitude. and san francisco was the first city to shut down and we have been the most conservative and the department of health and allowing people in chase arena not to wear a mask or ball park and indoor and outdoor, it is

significant. and i am not as concerned and i will let the director tumlin talk about what will happen with transportation. >> thank you for the promotion. i am jeff tumlin, director of the sfmta and the judge on the east coast struck down the federal mask mandate. and currently we are following the mask mandate and more importantly, as we have always done, from the very begibbing of the pandemic, sfmta will closely follow the direction from the department of health and the

federal government and tracking the data about how to halt covid transmission on public transit. what is clear all over the world is public transit has never been a significant transmission source for the virus. part of the reason is that air filtration and air turnover is so good on public transit. and muni, the air comploetly turns over at least once every minute, far better than any other indoor space any of us is in. while we recommend that meme wear masks, we don't believe it is actually necessary in order to insure that public transit is safe and will be responding to whatever health guidance we receive from the experts. >> all right. i don't see the enthusiasm for 4:20 and you guys are all over

us. and we might take the day off and go out there ourselves. >> we are walking this fiep line. what does that look like? >> with any large-scale event, making sure that the right resources are available for safety. this event came together and is a very organic way. and it's evolved and become a place people are attracted to

versus someone like the outside land folks who came in to cover their bases to insure safety. this one we had to adapt. the reluctance comes from allowing the event to be what it's always been to people and not overregulating but at the same time we have no choice with the scale of the event to incorporate for the neighbors to have better experiences and if that continues, it is not a question and this is an event we know can continue and we are concerned with what people lace

marijuana with in light of the number of overdose deaths in san francisco. we are mindful of the different impact and what that will mean. my hope is people understand the significance of why it is important to follow the rules and stay safe and at the same time, not add any other dynamics to it. public safety is probably the real reason why we're most concerned, but ultimately, we're excited to bring most events back including this one. and looking forward to its success. thank you.

>> in november of 2016, california voters passed proposition 64. the adult use of marijuana act. san franciscans overwhelmingly approved it by nearly 75%. and the law went into effect in january of 2018. [♪♪♪] >> under california's new law, adults age 21 and over can legally possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis and grow up to six plants at home. adults in california can legally give up to 1 ounce to other adults. >> in the state of california, we passed a law that said adult consumption is legal. if you are an adult and in possession of certain amounts, you will no longer be tried. you will not be arrested or prosecuted for that. that is changing the landscape dramatically. [♪♪♪] >> to legalization of cannabis

could bring tremendous economic and social benefits to cities like san francisco. >> this industry is projected to reach $22 billion by the year 2020. and that is just a few years away. >> it can be a huge legal industry in california. i think very shortly, the actual growing of marijuana may become the biggest cash crop in the state and so you want that to be a legal tax paying cash crop, all the way down the line to a sales tax on the retail level. >> the california medical industry is a 3 billion-dollar industry last year. anticipating that multiplier as 20, 30, 50 times in the consumer marketplace once adult use is really in place, you could go ahead and apply that multiplier to revenue. it will be huge.

>> when that underground economy becomes part of the regular tax paying employment economy of the bay area, it not only has a direct impact, that money has a ripple impact through the economy as well. >> it is not just about retail. it is not just about the sensor. is about manufacturing pick a lot of innovative manufacturing is happening here in san francisco in addition to other parts of the state as well as the cultivation. we should be encouraging that. >> there is a vast array of jobs that are going to be available in the newly regulated cannabis industry. you can start at the top tier which a scientist working in testing labs. scientists working at extraction companies. and you work towards agricultural jobs. you have ones that will require less education and you look towards cannabis retail and see traditional retail jobs and you see general management jobs. those things that are similar to working at a bar restaurant or working at a retail store.

>> we are offering, essentially, high paid manufacturing jobs. typical starting wage of 18-$20 an hour, almost no barrier to entry, you do not need an education. >> that means that people who do not have college educations, working-class people, will have an opportunity to have a job at cultivating cannabis plants. there's a whole wide array of job opportunities from the seedling to the sale of the cannabis. [♪♪♪] >> last year, they said 26 million people came to san francisco. >> the tourism industry continues to be very robust here and the city and county of san francisco is about a billion-dollar industry. >> if we use a conservative cannabis user adoption rate to 15% that means 4 million tourists want that means 4 million tourists want to purchase cannabis. and we need to be ready for them. >> in 2015, as adult use legalization efforts gained

momentum in california, the supervisors created the san francisco cannabis state legalization task force. this task force offered to research and advice to the supervisors, the mayor and other city departments. >> we knew that adult use legalization was coming to the ballot and stat that would bring with it a number of decisions that the city would have to make about zoning and regulation and so forth. and i decided at that time, at a know it was a great, that rather than have a fire drill after the ballot measure passes, as suspected it would, we should plan an event. so i authored a task force to spend a year studying it and we made it a broad-based task force. >> we prepared ourselves by developing a health impact assessment and partnered that with key stakeholder discussions with washington, oregon, colorado, to really learn

lessons from their experience rolling out both adult and medicinal cannabis. >> within days of the passing of the proposition, ed lee called on agencies to act decisively. >> he issued an executive order asking the department of public health, along with planning and other city departments to think through an internal working group around what we needed to do to consider writing this law. >> we collectively, i would say that was representatives from g.s.a., as well as the mayor's office, met with a lot of departments to talk through what prop 64 and the implementation of prop 64 it meant to them. >> the mayor proposed an office of cannabis, a one-stop shop for permits allowing operators to grow and sell cannabis. >> he wanted a smart structure. he wanted a regulatory structure that ensured that kids didn't have access and community's were

safe and that consumers were safe. and he wanted to ensure, more importantly, it was a regulatory structure that encouraged diversity and inclusivity. >> this is an office that will be solely charged with a duty of wanting not only the policies that we create, implementing and enforcing them, but also executing the licenses that are needed. we're talking about 20 different licenses that will put us into compliance with what is happening on the state level. >> this is a highly, highly regulated industry now, at this point. we have anywhere from 7-10 departments that will be working with these industry participants as they go through the permitting process. that is a lot of work at a loss of coordination. we are creating a permitting process that is smart and is digital. it is much easier for the user and for community input, and is less mired in bureaucracy. >> for the first time ever in

san francisco history, standalone licenses are available for all aspects of the nonretail side of the cannabis industry. now, a cultivator can go in to the department of building inspection and to the department of health and say, with this first registered and temporary license, and then what will eventually be a permanent license, this is the project, this is what i am going to do. >> very rarely in city government do we interact with industries that are asking to be regulated. these guys want to be regulated. they want to be compliant. they want to work with the city. that is rare. >> san francisco has created a temporary licensing process so that the pre-existing operators here in san francisco can apply for a temporary state licensed. >> we have taken teams of up to 12 inspectors to inspect the facility twice a day. we have been doing that with the

department of building inspection and the department of public health. and the fire department. >> it is really important for the industry to know that we are treating them like industry. like manufacturing. like coworkers pick so that is the way we are approaching this from a health and safety and a consumer protection network. this is just the way practice happens with restaurants or manufacturing facilities. >> because there are so many pieces of industry that people haven't even thought about. there are different permits for each piece. you have to set up a permitting system for growing, for manufacturing, for testing. for delivery. for retail. you have to make sure that there is an appropriate health code. certainly the regulation of alcohol in terms of restaurants and retail it's probably a model for how this industry will be regulated as well, both on sale

and consumption. >> it is completely uncharted territory. there is a blessing and a curse with that. it is exciting because we are on a new frontier, but it is very nerve-racking because there's a lot at stake. and quite frankly, being san francisco, being the state of california, people are looking to us. >> we hope that cannabis does become more of an accepted part of society in the same way that alcohol is, the same way coffee is. >> it is a very innovative fear, particularly around manufacturing. san francisco could be an epicenter. >> san francisco can be a leader here. a global leader in the cannabis movement and set a bar just to other communities and cities and states and this nation how it is done. [♪♪♪]

this is the third event we've done this year and the other two, the bristol and the abigail are some of the best in the country. and at a time when people all around the country are complaining about homelessness and saying what are the solutions. we're acquiring permanent supportive housing and that's the only answer because people need housing, they need a roof over their heads and this particular project as i said earlier, tenants from the baldwin hotel will be moving here and they've been in very tiny rooms on 6th street with no private baths.' this is the first hotel ever acquired by the city that has not only all private baths, but

microkitchens in every room. they have microwaves, entire kitchens set up. a giant stove for people who really want to cook right around the corner and this is what i call s.r.o.2.0. this is what we want to see as the future. you know dpock and then cathy. cathy's late husband enrique used to team with d-pock and then they turned it over to the city for us to run. mary's done a great job here. no further adieu. we'll let you speak. [ applause ] >> well, so first of all, let me just say, i want to acknowledge many of the people who are outside and working in our various places around the tenderloin community from sciu

and many of the workers who even during the pandemic still showed up to work. thank you for your service. thank you for supporting the community in this neighborhood despite the challenges of a pandemic. we were able to still push for an expansion of many new hotels and affordable housing and i know it hasn't been easy. and so i hear your request and i am taking them very seriously and i just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of the various employees of not just the garland, but many of the supportive service housing locations throughout the city because we couldn't do this work without you. we know this work is important. we know there are people who are getting back on their feet. you know, it could happen to anyone at any given time. anyone could fall unfortunately victim to challenges around behavioral health, around

substance use disorder, around poverty. and the ability to do what we're doing here today is so important. and d-pock, i just want to thank you so much because i feel like we continue to do these great partnerships, but most importantly, i appreciate how much care you take into making sure these places look good for the people that are going to be here. how you've gone out of your way in addition to another location that we've workeded together on and provided even a television in a congregate room where people can come and gather as a community and it means a lot. it's the little things that make a difference and so we appreciate you and your family and your work to help us get san francisco's most vulnerable population housed. and the thing is, we set out in 2018 or 2019 to increase the number of shelters in san francisco and what we set out a goal to do was to add 1,500 new

shelters to our portfolio. the fact is we're almost there and i'm really proud and excited. it's the largest expansion of shelter in san francisco in over 20 years, but in addition to shelter, what we've learned from this pandemic is people need their own space. people need their own bathrooms and their own food prep areas. i mean, these are things that many of us are so blessed to have in our lives. things we take for granted every single day when we walk through the doors of our home, it's what other people sadly don't have, the people who unfortunately are sleeping on the sidewalk, are sleeping in tents, are sleeping in some cases in many of our single room occupancy hotels where they have to share a bathroom and have no control over the whole cleaning situation that occurs in those locations. that's why this place is so

important. 80 new units where you have your own space where you have dignity. where you don't have to share your space with people that you may not even know and people that you may not even get along with. that is so important and this is direction that we need to be headed in. now, i know we built navigation centers and a number of other places to provide support for people living on the streets, but i want us as a city to move away from that model. to move towards those small homes, the cabins we just opened at 33 goff. i want us to move towards places like the garland and focus on places that will allow people to live in their own space and live their lives as i said with dignity. this is so important and we were able to do this because of federal support from h.u.d.

because of the state support through project home key and because of the resources we provided in our budget through the city and working with randy shaw and the tenderloin housing clinic and the work that they continue to do to manage these facilities to provide the supportive services, to work with the city and what we have available to make sure that we are not only getting people housed, but we're keeping them housed, and then we're thinking about the challenges that they might face with their mental health or their personal care or just basic hygiene. and let me tell you this quick story because many of you know that i grew up in the city and i remember there was this gentleman who i knew all my life. and he with the older guys would hang out in this location.

and we all lived in plaza east. this was public housing, and, yes, people didn't go there unless they lived there, but we didn't have people sleeping on the sidewalk. everybody had a place to go. and so just imagine you fast forward and this same gentleman who i'm not going to put his business out in the street, but he's sleeping near safeway at webster. and he was homeless we found out for five years. he lost his housing. he had challenges with his social security. he didn't know where to go or what to do because he did accept when plaza east was torn down. he accepted a section eight voucher and he just struggled from that point forward and he was homeless. fast forward, we built the willy b. apartments we used neighborhood preference and we were able to not only get him housed, but we were able to provide the services to ensure that he stays housed because it

wasn't -- he had his social security, but he had trouble in terms of balancing things and making the right decisions because he used to have someone who helped him to do that and he no longer did and that's why he ended up homeless and that is the tragedy. we can't just take for granted everyone knows what to do and how to do it especially in an expensive complex city like san francisco and that's why services are so important and that's why it's so expensive. people are wondering why you're spending so much money and we don't see changes on the streets. john will disagree with you because there's a change in his life right now and it's a blessing. it's a blessing that he is here and our goal is to try and do everything we can in this city to make sure that people like

john and his friends are not ending up on the streets. we have a lot of work to do in this city, but we're also committed to doing everything we can to make sure places like the garland become the norm and not the exception. thank you all for joining us here today as we really celebrate this milestone. so much more work to be done. as you can see with all the folks that are here today, we are committed to that work and we're not going to give up. thank you. >> i want to thank the mayor for acknowledging our workers because one of the problems we have is that this proceeded mayor breed by years is that the salary levels for the workers in these hotels have not kept up. so all our jobs in the tenderloin housing clinic and all these jobs are in-person

jobs, can't work at home. we've got to get the salaries raised in the next budget to make sure we can hire people and staff the hotels. i also want to mention, i was talking to a reporter and they said, well, you know, we have so many homeless people. is 80 units going to make a difference? some people have that attitude, but that's how you solve a problem by doing it building by building and that's what this mayor is doing and the mayor made another great decision when she named her ahead of h.s.h. and ever since shareem's team got in there she made it better. so why don't you give some talk as well. [ applause ] >> so, thank you, randy, and thanks so much for inviting us today. this is really exciting. and i want to just start by thanking mayor breed for her leadership and i think you can

tell from what she just said that this is a deeply personal issue for her and that she cares very much about san franciscans being housed and the garland is exactly what she said. this is the wave of the future for us. it's really nice to be in a building where people have their own bathrooms. where people have kitchens. i got to talk to john a little bit about how exciting it is to be moving in here from the baldwin and he got to see his room this morning which is just amazing and so i'm just very excited. i want to also just welcome you, john, to your new home. yeah. and i also want to thank del semore who is the mayor of the tenderloin. love working with del. he's also a lead are on our local homeless coordinating board and is just everywhere and he pushes us to be a better

department. through his lived experience and his wisdom. i also just want to say this building which is master leased and operated by t.h.c. will have on site staff and critically on site support services for people exiting chronic homelessness. and, yes, we absolutely need to support the work force. the lease of this building is part of the mayor's historic homeless recovery plan and a demonstration of the department of homelessness and the housing mission to make homelessness rare, brief, and one time. currently, there are 1,490 active units and an additional little over a 1,000 extra units in the city's pipeline of new supportive housing. this puts the mayor's recovery plan at 99% of the goal today, but we are on track to reach 170% of our goal by the end of the fiscal year, which is only a few months away. permanent supportive housing such as the garland provides stability and hopefully a path

out of homelessness permanently. we believe strongly that housing is a solution to homelessness and this property is the newest home we can provide for the community. i'm going to now turn the event back over to randy shaw and randy will move us into q&a. [ applause ] >> i know the mayor's schedule is tight but do you want to look a room. >> okay.

>> van ness avenue runs from market street to bay street in san francisco. south vanness runs from south of market to cesar chavez street. originally residential after the 1906 earthquake it was used as a fire break. many car dealerships and businesses exist on vanness today with expansion of bus lanes. originally marlet street was named after james vanness, seventh mayor of san francisco from 1855 to 1856.

vanness heavy are streets in santa cruz, los angeles and fresno in his honor. in 1915 streetcars started the opening of the expo. in 1950s it was removed and replaced by a tree-lined median. it was part of the central freeway from bayshore to hayes valley. it is part of uses 101. it was damaged during the 1989 earthquake. in 1992 the elevator part of the roadway was removed. it was developed into a surface boulevard. today the vanness bus rapid transit project is to have designated bus lanes service from mission. it will display the history of the city. van ness avenue.

>> i call to order this april 19 regular meeting of the san francisco m.t.a. meeting of the board of directors. madam clerk? >> clerk: this meeting is being broadcast on sfgovtv, and