>> hi everybody. i am executive director of giffords. led by gabby gifford joining us today. we would like to welcome you to the giffords' san francisco gun violence memorial which serves as a stark reminder of gun violence that continues and increases to plague our great state of california, bay area and, of course, the country as a whole. in 2020 this state saw 3500 gun deaths representing a shocking 41% increase in murders. there is no single cause.

gun sales are up. police community trust is down. the pandemic has led to an unprecedented social dislocation. but we do know some of the answers to addressing the gun violence epidemic. two of them are simple. courage and determination. the courage of survivors like here and those from the 101 california shooting. over 25 years ago they turned grief into action, determination of survivors to keep at it year after year passing gun law after gun law which has allowed us in california to reduce the rate of gun violence over that amount of time in half. that is not enough. california is not an island.

california must do more. for example, passing the firearms industry responsibility act. we need to keep the drumbeat going in sacramento. we need to continue to invest in life saving violence prevention work. we need to shine a bright light on the inaction of washington, d.c. where despite 90% of americans who support universal background checks across the country despite the majority of americans that support deep investment in violence intervention and policies and investments despite the need for president biden to take further action, we have seen not enough. we are surrounded here today by a elected leaders, advocates, survivors, folks on the front

lines to make it day-to-day work to create change we need for a safer city, state and country. i am deeply honored to introduce san francisco mayor london breed. thank you so much for your leadership and in particular for your support for the $1.5 million investment in violence prevention services. >> mayor breed: let me say it is an honor to be here with our distinguished guests, including gabby gifford and the work she has been doing to address gun violence in this country has been extraordinary. this is how we connected because, sadly, this is why i got into politic in the first place. it has everything to do with growing up in a community where gun violence was normal.

in junior high school it was easy for anyone to get access to buy or find a gun somewhere in your home and this is in the western addition where myself and michael joining us today where we. >> up. too many funerals to count. i wasn't even 18 years old. when i think about these lives here represented in this way, 3449 people during the year of 2020 in the state of california. dying in this state, in this very wealthy state due to gun violence. half of these people because of suicide and african-american men in particular representing 4% of the population in this state. 28% of those who died from gun violence. kids ages 1-17.

second leading cause of death in the state of california. in 2020 what we saw in san francisco is that gun violence was a leading cause of death in our communities. we are seeing this happen time and time again. whether it is our synagogues or sandy hook shootings where our kids were murdered. in so many situations what is most frustrating to me is where is the compassion. where is the leadership? where is the courage? because i am certain, sadly, everyone here in some form or another is probably impacted by gun violence in some way. you directly or a family member. people in domestic violence situations one of the leading

causes of death is by a gun. how do we get rid of this? how do we stop this and make sure it is not one more? we can't give up this fight. the hurt is not just the people who are the victims directly. it is the families. it is the communities, the loss of life. heart and pain that carries on with you especially with the mothers. we are here with one of those mothers, those courageous mothers who has taken her pain and used it to advocate for other mothers, too much loss, hurt, too much pain. that is why we are here today. it is important to shine a light another this and never to give up. gabby would say never ever give

up. on the need for change. on the need for justice. on the need to make sure the kids are not continuing to grow up in these environments where this is normal because it is not normal. it is hurtful, painful and it is devastating to our city, our state, our country. we are better than this. we can do better than this. i am confident that the work that gifford does with a number of the people who are actively engaged in this fight we are going to get there. we are not going to give up and we are going to continue to fight to end gun violence in this country. thank you all so much for being here to support these efforts. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed. as you heard from the mayor, there is no greater loss than the loss of the parent. our next speaker has grievously

lost and she has also courageously fought for safer gun lies. i am very sonnored and proud to introduce survivor lynnettemcelhaney. >> good morning. it is an awesome privilege to stand with this leader, our congressional leader and each of you who lifted up the cause of ending gun violence in this country today. i havingeled to figure out what -- struggled out what to say in a political or policy context to understand the importance of now. we are surrounded by 5 -- 3500

flowers representing the lives of californiaians lost to gun violence in 2020. think about that over 10 years and go back to 2010. you will find a flower from my son, victor mcel haney. i was thinking about victor. i think about victor all of the time. he is the only son born to me. my only child, my only baby. i think about the promise that we all lost in victor. victor was born two months early but right on time. he chose to come on april 13th, he chose because he was a decisive child. arrived when tiger was winning the masters something i could not witness. victor said pay attention to me. he came in at 3 pounds. we named him victor because he

beat the odds. he would need to be in a incubator for months and it was only weeks. he came born to drums and brought music. at three he said music is medicine, mommy, don't you know that. he would drum his way to the university of southern california. where the transfer student he made teachers feel welcome in their place. we told him wherever he stepped foot it was his place to be and his place to serve. victor brought love into this world. he drummed for deaths and births and in celebration and created music and gave so much love. if you have ever been touched by music, ever been touched by a song, ever given you comfort and a time of stress or reminded

you of joy us teenage years you know the power of music. i will tell you that on march 10, 2019 that drummer was stopped from creating that memory or providing that tune or giving us that grace. victor was my sunshine. he was much more than that. he was a son of this great state, a son of his community. he chose to be a son of the world, and he wanted to share love, to heal all of the harms that would lead to the premature death of his god brother, his cousin, his nephew. it would ultimately take his life. just 30-days before he would have been 22.

now people look at me and say you are so strong. i don't know that that is true. there is not a day in these past three years that i don't weep. no a day i don't cry out. no time to rest. as marvin would say, there are too many mothers and fathers crying. now it would be one thing if we were just up against a disease we couldn't identify. a fight for cancer, viruses, things we bring science to. this is something we can cure. we know what to do. as peter so eloquently told us. 90% of us. we can't agree on the weather or time of day.

90% of americans know that this is something we can do without and we must bring an end to. there are just a handful of wealthy people who profit on my pain. please help me stop them. please help me stop any other mother, brother, sister, cousin from living in this pain. thank you. (applause). >> thank you so much, lynnette. your courage as survivor is so remarkable. you are somebody who has been on the front lines of gun violence prevention for so long. i want everybody to know of your role in oakland of passing measure z which helped save count less lives through the

services it funded. i want to introduce somebody now who is on the front lines of stopping gun violence. the wrap around services at u.c.s.f. have comforted victims, stopped cycles of violence from continuing and saved so many lives. i am pleased to introduce our next speaker. >> i am mike. with the wraparound project over 16 years. we provide services for individuals impacted by gun violence. our mission is to really stop the reinvolving door of the violence in our cities. we provide services as far as victim services, court advocacy,

job opportunities, employment opportunities, and really to just the highlight a few individuals we have young folks who have been affected by violence now in the medical field and now they are also professors at san francisco state. thank you. (applause). >> thank you for your work and partnership. i am now pleased as mayor breed said gun violence takes many forms. from the daily community violence which devastates so many neighborhoods, suicide, also the nexus between gun violence and domestic violence. scott shelf from stop gun violence with the domestic violence consortium. thank you, scott. [applause]

>> good morning. i have been working with rsp. i started asen mate participant since 1998. i have been doing this for 24 years. it is my life work. i and honored to be here but i am sad to be here. that is how i feel. i feel sad about being here. i feel like we shouldn't be here but we need to be here. it is necessary that we are here. the impact of violence weighs heavy on me. sometimes i want to stop. i can't stop and won't stop. i have experienced violence at all level. i have worked with men sending violent texts and taken lives. why are you still working with them? my hope is they won't take

another life. that is my hope. that is my reality. our program is based in the principles of restorative justice. first about accountability. i can't help but notice the lack of accountability going on in our country. it is about time that we get accountable. my job is to hold men accountable for violence. that is my job to hold them accountable and hold myself accountable as well. we really need to step up our game because we are slipping. it is not working. clearly not working. i told beverly when i walked up and saw all of the faces i was overcome. 3449 people in one year. that shouldn't happen. i know people talk about the second amendment and stuff. it was ratified in 1791.

that was a long time ago. guns have advanced. it is time policies advance. it is long time. guns are far more advanced now. countless lives can be taken in a matter of seconds. it is like enough is enough. i work with men and challenge police systems. mr. bs. the belief system. we address gender roles and what men learn about what they are supposed to be as a man and their role and their partner's role. my job is to challenge that ideology. it is going on for hundreds of years. there is also some ideologies to challenge around gun culture. it is a shame to me that people

are so caught up with guns. it is time we start taking on those belief systems around guns, right? and around people's right to have guns. there are certain. i understand people want to have guns to protect themselves. if you are going to fight against the tyrannical government. good luck. that is not going to work out. i just want to mention some folks i have lost over the years, clients and friend. randolph grayson was 23 years old died on march 24, 2003. he had a smile and personality. first client lost in visitation valley. richard fowler 28 years old died october 3, 2011 at home playing video games. shot in the head.

dante white. 22 years old. died april 27, 2006. in class with his bigfoot filled smile on tuesday. on thursday he was gunned down at the community center. i will never see that smile again. nor will his parents or his child or any of his folks. they will not see that. shelton 10, 6, 14. we used to joke he was our son. he was 20 when i started working with him. he sat on many occasions at my desk. i said, look, man stop hanging out on the periphery. you are going to hurt somebody or be killed. i told him that three times. he was such a baby face and had a baby on the way. baby was born and he was taken. another father less child.

he just started out in life. randy armstrong, 54. coming up on a year killed. he was a peer in rsvp. he had quite an imposing presence 6-foot 9". he was a teddy bear. i loved that guy. shot and killed in potrero hill may 15, last year. >> cleveland reed client and co-worker 29. killed in potrero hill. a former co-worker killed walking dog in oakland worked apartment sevsevwith victims of vi-- worked at u.c.s.f. he would sit in our trainings when i started out. we became close. he ended up becoming the director of the program i went

through. then went to continue his education at u.c.s.f. he was out walking his dog and shot and killed for no reason other than initiation. he was not robbed. everything was in his wallet. david lewis, 54. he was killed june 9, 2010 at the hills dale shopping center. he was a giant in person and in the recovery circles. free at last in east palo alto. i wish i would have gotten to know him more. i can't now. i lost a cousin to suicide by gun back east recently. she was a young mother two kids, happily married. just in closing briefly i want it out there whoever is listening. if you need support i am here. reach out to me. if you need support or know

somebody who needs support reach out to me, please contact me. get me through the sheriff's department or community works west through the website. i am here to support anybody who wants it. you just need willingness to do some work. thank you for allowing me to be here today. it is an honor. [applause] >> thank you, scott for your courageous work and your remembrances. robin thomas executive director of givefords law center. -- giffords law center. over 15 years after being a top expert helped produce the policy gains that have helped us in this state achieve the decline this is per capita gun violence that are so important to

protecting our communities. (applause). on july 1, 1993, almost 29 years ago, a gunman walked into 101 california street in one of the buildings behind us and shot and killed eight people, left six wounded. forever changed the face of this city. the knowledge and understanding of this city of the toll of gun violence that can make any one of us acceptable to the havoc. the predecessor to the law center was founded in that tragedy. the mission was to reduce the goal of gun violence in san francisco, california, united states. i am proud to say that 29 years later we have had tremendous success since the shooting at

sandy hook we passed 500 laws at the state level. [applause]. since shooting at parkland high school we passed 250 laws at state and local level. in 27 states last year we passed 75 laws. that progress every day is very meaningful. frustrating, maddening to us that the translation of success. the laws passed to places like california and have reduced gun violence and gun deaths in california by almost half aren't something that is taken up by the federal government. this is a problem that has solutions. we don't have to be looking at almost 3500 flower in the field behind us. it is courage shown by people

partnered with us today standing behind me today, shown by our leaders in washington, d.c. we wouldn't have to be holding so many funerals and holding events to draw attention to this devastating problem. like giffords we are proud of the work we do and laws we helped pass. proud of the second amendment laws in the courts. cases right now today sitting before the supreme court of this country and decisions expected next month. this is not a problem that is going to be an immediate solution in the courts. we will fight as long and hard as it takes until we have success. we are proud of the partnership. proud of the fact we stand with youth alive and the wrap around be project and domestic violence which people are in the trenches every day fighting this fight, supporting their communities one

life at a time. we know the folks and the work they are doing. they have reduced gun deaths in oakland by almost 50% in the last decade. that is tremendous. [applause]. we are so proud to work with them every day and stand with them every day in their fight and to bring every ounce of the power we can lift voices to make sure this problem is never forgotten. this is something we are committed to as an organization, as individuals as a group to fight for until one day we don't have to stand here in front of flowers and don't have to hear from mothers who tragically lost children. i think about that all of the time. how it would be possible to get out of bed the next day or any day after losing a child. the only thing i hope is that this fight, the fight to prevent

this from happening in the future to others motivates us to never give up. we are never going to give up on this fight. i am so proud and humbled to be here representing someone who i know we all feel so strongly is not just our namesake but inspiration that shows us every day what it means to have courage, fight, believe in a future better than the one we have today. (applause). >> our lives can change so quickly. mine did when i was shot. i never gave up hope. i chose to make a new start. to not look back. i am re-learning so many things, how to walk, how to talk, and i

am fighting to make the country safer. it can be so difficult. losses hurt. setbacks are hard. i tell myself move ahead. i find joy in small things, riding my bike, going to the gym, laughing with friends. we are living in challenging times, but we are up for the challenge. my own recovery has taken years. many, many people have helped me along the way. i learned so much. i have learned when people care for each other and work together progress is possible. change doesn't happen overnight. we can't do it alone. join me. move ahead together.

thank you very much. [applause]. >> it is a windy day or the fight against gun violence, gabby gifford is up for any challenge. i want to note gabby's recovery has taken years and years. her recovery is the product not of miraculous medical discovery, not particularly awesome day of physical therapy but sheer determination and hard workday after day, hour after hour, minute after minute. she inspires us. that is fundamentally what we have to do to fight against gun violence. there is no silver bullet. the gun lobby is not going to

just walk away from the field. we have rejoin the fight each and every day, push the ball forward and save as many lives as we possibly can. we know what we need to do. the nra wants us to feel hopeless that gun violence isn't preventible when we know that it is. that is why we are honored to have our partners together in this fight to work with all of you. with that we will invite you to spend some time at the memorial today and this week. happy to answer any questions which we can do now. (applause).

hi, sandy, how are you? >> hi, fine, thank you. how are you? >> good. i want to ask you what inspired you to be a paramedic? >> that's a good question. you know, i wanted to go into med school and after i found out how much time it took and all of that, i decided that that was going to be a little too much schooling, but i still wanted to figure out a way that i could provide medical care and doing that as an emt as well as a paramedic was a way to do that. >> can you give me a break down of a typical day for you? >> i come to work and sit at my desk and then i respond to e-mails and try to figure out what are some of the issues we need to address. can we hire more people. what kinds of policies we want

to try to create that will help us do our job as ems. >> what does it take to be a female paramedic? >> you know, it takes quite a bit of schooling, but also required somebody who's empathetic. it can be a very stressful job and so we want people to be able to hand that on a day-to-day basis. >> so what's your greatest satisfaction in your job? >> trying to make sure that the work that we provide and the services that we provide to the community is the best that we can in ems so that when we go out to see you if you call us for an emergency, that we'll be able to treat you in the best way possible and that you get the care as quickly and as effectively as possible. >> why is it important for young girls, women of color to see women in these roles? >> i think it really is important for us to be able to get into these roles because we are effective, we are able to reach out to the community. we are able to do the job in a very effective manner and to be

able to relate to the community and be able to do that is one of the best things that we can do. and people of color and as women of color, you know, we are in a great position to be able to do that.

>> you are watching san francisco rising. today's special guest is jeff tomlin.

>> hi. you are watching san francisco rising. to show that is focused on restarting, rebuilding, and reimagining our city. our guest today is the director transportation of the sfmta and he's with us to talk about the agency's 23-24 budget with the muni equity strategy and new projects across the city. welcome to the show. >> thank you it is good to be here. >> i see the sfmta's budget for 2023 and 2024 has been approved. how will it help provide a strong recovery during the next few years for our riders, operators and staff? >> it has been a challenging couple of years. covid wiped out the basic finances. our agency is funded primarily from transit fares, parking fees and a fixed set aside for a general fund and covid has meant we have lost more than half of our parking and transit for revenue. we are not expected to recover them until 2027. this budget takes a one-time

federal release funding and spreads that out between now and 2025. and our task is to rebuild trust with the voters that sfmta can actually deliver on their goals and that includes things like making muni faster, more frequent, and more reliable. includes making our streets safer and making everyone feel safe riding the bus. it means taking advantage of the amount of change we're going to experience in order to advance equity so that we invents -- invest the most amount of money in communities that need our services the most. it also means supporting san francisco in its larger economic recovery. basically two years between now and 2024 in order to build trust with the voters and figure out how are we going to find muni moving forward because it is in

2024 and 2025 when the one-time federal release fund went out. >> are you planning on starting up? >> as a result of covid, we have 1,000 vacancies in the organization. that is why muni service is not fully recovered. this budget allows us to fully staff through 2024, which means we can restore muni service, invest in safety, and invest in other programs in order to make the transportation system work better for everyone. >> can you talk about the mooney service equity strategies? as you move out of the pandemic, how has that plan been updated? i have heard there are elevator upgrades in progress. >> we have been working a lot on equity during muni's recovery. we have been basing our work on the muni equity strategy. this is the plan we update every two years that looks at the changing demographics of san

francisco and helps us direct our transit resources where people need it the most. that means people with low income, people of color, seniors, people with disability, children, all the folks who have the fewest choices. during covid, when we had to strip back the transit system, 13 quarters of the workforce were in quarantine, we directed all of the agency's resources to the equity neighborhoods. places like the bayview, chinatown, the mission, the valley, and even through our recovery, we have continued to deliver the best muni service's so -- to the neighborhoods that need it the most. right now we are still operating more frequent service in core lines in equity neighborhoods than we did precovid. and the result of that is extraordinarily high ridership. we are finding, for example, by investing in the frequency and

reliability on lines like the 22 fillmore, that we are getting 133% of precovid ridership, even when the overall system is only at about half of the ridership recovery. that is 133%. that is on weekends. we are at about 96% of precovid ridership on our main equity lines on weekdays. we're also investing a whole variety of infrastructure projects aimed at making transit work better, particularly for people with disabilities. on the market street corridor, our elevators to the subway station date back to the 1970s and need significant renovation. right now we are busy working on renovating the elevators at the station. we have completed the elevator upgrade for the eastbound platform. we are now working on the westbound platform. that will modernize the elevators and make them a lot more reliable, and make sure that we can continue to

prioritize people with the fewest mobility choices. >> that's great. changing topics slightly, i understand the improvement project is halfway completed. have shared spaces made the product -- project more complicated? >> yes. lots of things have made the terminal project more complicated, including things like covid and supply chain issues. we learned a lot on the first phase of the terra vale project, which rebuilt the street from sunset boulevard to the zoo, including rebuilding all the infrastructure of the streets, the underground utilities, to modernize all that infrastructure and make it more resilient, and make sure that we do not have to rebuild the street, hopefully in any of our lifetimes. we also learned about the importance of collaborating, particularly with neighborhood businesses and residents. we want to make sure that we are constructing the city's infrastructure in a time that

the city is suffering and we are not adding to suffering. we're doing things like partnering with the mayor's office of economic workforce development to support neighborhood businesses through programming during this time. we are also making sure that businesses that create shared spaces in the parking lane, some of those need to be moved out of the way while the utility work is done underneath them. we are making sure that we will either move those platforms and outdoor eating areas back as they were, or help local merchants rebuild them so that we are not adding to the burden of local businesses and that we help everyone recover in this challenging time. >> quite right. finally, many of the sfmta vision zero quick build projects have been well received. can you talk about the evans street project? >> one of the things we did during covid was dramatically expand the rate of what we call

quick build projects, which are fast-moving projects using simple and cheap materials in order to redesign streets and test out new ideas and see how they work, as well as get a lot of feedback from community before moving into a larger capital project that converts all of that plastic stuff into concrete and trees and, you know, curb extensions. what we have been finding is that our quick build safety projects are able to cut severe injury and fatalities between 25 and 75%, depending upon the location on the techniques that we use. so we are targeting streets that have the highest rate of traffic crashes, particularly injury crashes and fatalities. we focused on evans, which is really important connector for all modes of transportation between the bayview and the central neighborhoods of san

francisco. also a street with a terrible track record of severe crashes. on evans, what we are doing, again using paint and plastic posts for the time being, is taking the lanes that are out there right now, and converting them to one lane in each direction plus turn pockets. what we found on streets like valencia or south bend this, or -- south van nass, is a street with one lane in each direction plus a term pocket can move just as much traffic as a street with two lanes in each direction. left turning vehicles mean the two lanes of traffic are never really available for through traffic. these road diets that we do have been tremendously effective for improving safety outcomes for all road users, without exacerbating traffic. they do make all cars slow down to the speed of the most prudent

driver. this week we are getting started in partnership with the department of public works on work to restripe all of evans between third and cesar chavez, and as part of this work will be collecting a lot of data, talking to industrial users in the industrial district and talking to folks in the bayview commercial district and in the mission about how it is working. we will make some adjustments along the way and if it is successful, then we will start another project that is more capital-intensive to make it permanent. if it is not successful, we will turn it back the way that it was, having spent very little money. >> thank you so much. i really appreciate you coming on the show. thank you for the time you have given us today. >> it has been great being here. thank you so much. >> that is it for this episode. we will be back shortly. you have been watching san francisco rising. thank you for watching. [♪♪♪]

[♪♪♪] >> i really believe that art should be available to people for free, and it should be part of our world, you shouldn't just be something in museums, and i love that the people can just go there and it is there for everyone. [♪♪♪]

>> i would say i am a multidimensional artist. i came out of painting, but have also really enjoyed tactile properties of artwork and tile work. i always have an interest in public art. i really believe that art should be available to people for free, and it should be part of our world. you shouldn't just be something in museums. i love that people can just go there, and it is there for everyone. public art is art with a job to do. it is a place where the architecture meets the public. where the artist takes the meaning of the site, and gives a voice to its. we commission culture, murals, mosaics, black pieces, cut to

mental, different types of material. it is not just downtown, or the big sculptures you see, we are in the neighborhood. those are some of the most beloved kinds of projects that really give our libraries and recreation centers a sense of uniqueness, and being specific to that neighborhood. colette test on a number of those projects for its. one of my favorites is the oceanview library, as well as several parks, and the steps. >> mosaics are created with tile that is either broken or cut in some way, and rearranged to make a pattern. you need to use a tool, nippers,

as they are called, to actually shape the tiles of it so you can get them to fit incorrectly. i glued them to mash, and then they are taken, now usually installed by someone who is not to me, and they put cement on the wall, and they pick up the mash with the tiles attached to it, and they stick it to the wall, and then they groped it afterwards. [♪♪♪] >> we had never really seen artwork done on a stairway of the kinds that we were thinking of because our idea was very just barely pictorial, and to have a picture broken up like that, we were not sure if it would visually work. so we just took paper that size and drew what our idea was, and cut it into strips, and took it down there and taped it to the steps, and stepped back and looked around, and walked up and

down and figured out how it would really work visually. [♪♪♪] >> my theme was chinese heights because i find them very beautiful. and also because mosaic is such a heavy, dens, static medium, and i always like to try and incorporate movement into its, and i work with the theme of water a lot, with wind, with clouds, just because i like movements and lightness, so i liked the contrast of making kites out of very heavy, hard material. so one side is a dragon kite, and then there are several different kites in the sky with the clouds, and a little girl below flying it.

[♪♪♪] >> there are pieces that are particularly meaningful to me. during the time that we were working on it, my son was a disaffected, unhappy high school student. there was a day where i was on the way to take them to school, and he was looking glum, as usual, and so halfway to school, i turned around and said, how about if i tell the school you are sick and you come make tiles with us, so there is a tile that he made to. it is a little bird. the relationship with a work of art is something that develops over time, and if you have memories connected with a place from when you are a child, and you come back and you see it again with the eyes of an adult, it is a different thing, and is

just part of what makes the city an exciting place. [♪♪♪] come to order. this is the may 25, 2022 budget and finance committee meeting. i'm hillary ronen, chair of the finance and budget committee. i'm joined by gordon mar and vice chair safai will be here shortly. our clerk is brent jalipa and i would like to thank sfgovtv for broadcasting this meeting. mr. clerk, any announcements? >> with our retur