tv Mayors Press Availability SFGTV June 4, 2022 11:30pm-12:01am PDT
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month we were all shocked to read a draft of a supreme court opinion. i decision that would overturn roe versus wade and set our country back by 50 years. this is a very dark momentfor the highest court in our land and our country's rule of law . the potentialconsequences of this opinion cannot be underestimated .we're not just talking about the arrests, the prosecutions, the criminal convictions ofwomen seeking reproductive health care or medical professionals providing that care. we know from history that women will die because of this decision . now, over the years that bay area has had a proud tradition of lawyers taking up the cause of justice during the turmoil of the 1960s , bay area lawyers formed the lawyers committee for civil rights leveraging the efforts
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of thousands of pro bono attorneys. after a mass shooting at a downtown san francisco law firm their area lawyers started the community againstviolence which has led the nationalfight for gun safety . and when no one bought it possible , bay area lawyers in our san francisco city attorney's office teamed up to leavethe fight for marriage equality .today we are here to announce that the san francisco city attorney's office, the bar association of san francisco and at this time over 20 law firms are joining forces to launch the legal alliance for reproductive rights. this alliance will seek to provide pro bono services to address the myriad of legal needs of pregnant women and health providers who will be facing civil suits and criminal charges for seeking or
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providing reproductive health care. our city attorney's office will be looking for litigation opportunities to protect rights, advising our policymakers on how we protect that access to care and will be teaming up with these law firms and the lawyers standingwith us today and hundreds of their colleagues as well as other public law offices . reverend martin luther king taught us that the ultimate measure of a person is not where we stand in moments of comfort and convenience but where we stand at times of challenge and controversy. as lawyers, as officers of the court we cannot standidly by during this most precarious moment for constitutional rights in our lifetime . i am very grateful to the bay area legal community for stepping up today during this moment to stand up for justice and the rule of law. and today we invite and
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challenge legal communities around our states and our country to join us . together, we can dispel the darkness. i am honored to be joined today by significant leaders in our legal community and beyond. we're going to hear from our first speaker, presidentof the bar association of san francisco mary mcnamara . [applause] >> thank you david. esteemed members ofthe san francisco legal community , just over a month ago mayor reed declared april 27 the bar association of san francisco day. the mayor was honoring 150 years of work that this bar association has done since its founding in 1872. we have advocated for every major civil rights cause in the country. we've been leaders of the world
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in this regard and for thepast 50 years we have advocated for reproductive justice . in 1970 four roe v wade we call for the removal of restrictions from abortion in this state. in the 1970s and 80s we advocatedfor reproductive justice causes. we signed on to every major brief beforethe supreme court . today as david said we are joining together to form a new coalition , the legal alliance forreproductive rights . we know that the finest law firms in the city , everybody here has not only joined but rushed to join this effort to protect the newly vulnerable cause of pregnant people in this country. they're doing so to uphold the basic rights of legalpersonhood for all pregnant people . the basic right or sisters,
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supporters, the brothers, sisters, mothers andfathers, the grandparents . everybody who helpsa woman obtain an abortion . these people will now be the subject of civil and criminal prosecutions and hospice country. all these firms recognize that a woman has a basic right to control her ownhealth care . all of them recognized that women are now going to be forced to give birth, even women have been raped. women who have beenabused . women too young to carry achild , too poor to have another child. women who have precarious pregnancies. allof them are going to be in danger through the fall of rome . in a post-real-world as david had said it's not just that women will be arrested or fully prosecuted for doing what any other person can do with his or
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her body. women will indeed die. women die already in this country and getting childbirth. in fact, we have the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world and it's a race that has been climbing for two decades. the fall of rome isgoing to usher in a new appallingly high maternal mortality rate . people of color will suffer the most. the poor will get poorer. abortion is not just basic healthcare. it's an economic right and without that economic right women are going to suffer from morethe quality and the already . this city leads the state. the state leaves the country. i echo david call for our sister communities across the country, our fellow bar association to comeand do what are doing . form agroup of lawyers who will
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give of themselves freely in this site . i want to thank everybody here for their civicmindedness , theirgenerosity, there will towards the constitution of this country . thank you. [applause] >> thank you marian and thank you to the leadership of the bar association . we know that as we move forward in the coming weeks, months and years there will be many strategies and tactics that will have to be determined to help leave those efforts is executive director and general counsel of the bar association, yolanda jackson . >> morning everyone. thank you to our family. thank you for being here. i cannot express how incredibly proud i am to be reading this organization on this day and during these dark and challenging times.
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we always standwhen it's needed and when helps themost. in a 150 year history wewalked boldly into the fight for due process , criminal justice reform , women's equality and women's rights , raise the quality once again we are working boldly into the challenge to protect and supportthe rights of people to exercise their reproductive rights . people seeking abortions have a right to privacy and liberty. people seekingabortions have a right to privacy and liberty . roe versus wade is on the verge of being overturned. on january 2023 will be 50 yearssince the roe v wade decision was decided by the us report . none of us should be proud of this was we areabout to take incarnation and we all should be very machine . in san francisco we always have a lighthouse shiny.
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a symbol of hope and security. over 20 law firms and counties have come together to be ready and prepared to assist people with legal issues arising out of there exercising their reproductiverights . these legal services will be provided for free. why? because these law firms are proud to walk the walk when it comes to upholding the rule of law and protecting constitutional rights . assisting people when they are most vulnerable is what makes mostlawyers proud to be part of our profession . the lawyers alliancefor reproductive rights is facing a crisis head-on . we had could not be more proud of the 20+ firms for their generosity . we are extremely honored to be collaborating with the san francisco city attorney david hsu and his office in this important endeavor. finally i want to invite and encourage my. executive directors from bar
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association's from across the nation to replicate this effort in their cities to help people seeking and fighting fortheir reproductive rights . i want to thank all the firms who stand ready to bend the art of the moral universe towards justice. thank you to our president mary mcnamara for this amazing idea tobring these law firms together to protect the rights of those seeking the right to choose. doing whatlawyers do best . that is utilizing their unique skills and training tohelp other people .thank you all for being here this afternoon to support this effort . [applause] >> thank you yolanda. i'm going to say to the press corps we don't recognize the attorneys standing to our left or right, these are not only some of the best lawyers in san francisco and the bay and are state, these are some of the best lawyers in the country and i would not want to miss this
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group. and speaking on behalf of this group is a woman who is representing one of the very first lawfirms to step up for this effort . partner and cochair of capital markets practice from arnold porter kate and scholer, teresa johnson. [applause] >> good morning everyone. my name is teresa johnson and i'm a partner with arthur and porter. i'm proud to represent the group of law firms coming together with the city attorney in the legal alliance for reproductive rights. there aremore than 20 firms who put their hands up and more joining every day. our mission is simple : to protect people exercising their reproductive rights and the medical providers providing care and support. as we allknow the supreme court
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appears to be poised to take away a fundamental right that's been on the books for nearly 50 years . that calls for a public-private collaboration to pool our strength and resources and fight to ensure the personal and professional safety of pregnant people, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals. no one should have toput their personal freedom on the line to exercise a constitutional right . we have a dream team of law firms in the coalition as david noted comprising some of the finest alliance in the country. there has been an outpouring of support from national and local firms to what weall see as a tragedy about to unfold . it is my privilege tointroduce the firms are part of this effort . walt schuler, arguilas cassidy, bron katie andgordon , clarenc dyer , catch, duffy andbass ,
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conrad kane, crowle and morgan. martel, glenn bergman and puentes. anson bridgett, lewis and llewellyn. hyman and bernstein. morrison and foerster. netheri and jung. ripken, ward and garrison. ramsey and erlich. joseph o'donnell. swanson and mcnamara and loki gallagher. special thanks to all the firms who are part of this effort.
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on behalf of all of us we look forward to working with the other members to support reproductive rights. thank you . [applause] >> thank you teresa and i want to thank each and everyone of you for being here , for standing up when it really matters . our final speaker today i will introduce in the following way it's not everyday lawyers and doctors come together on an issue . but the san francisco marin medical society has been on the forefront of leading important progressive issues and i'm very grateful to the leadership of the medical society for stepping in immediately. we are looking forward to working with our healthcare professionals around the region, around the state and around the country to protect the important work they do every day. here representingthe medical
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society is president phd doctor michael schrader . [applause] >> thank you david for that generous introduction. so my name is doctor michael schrader and i'm a primary care doctor in san francisco and also president of the san francisco medical society. we represent over 3000 positions living in san francisco and marin. we had a long history of advocating for theright to choose . a long history of advocating for access for patients to exercise this right and we feel that abortion is a medical decision tobe made by patient and her physician .i wanted to tell you a story. i was telling this trauma physician as i was coming here today and he told me the story resonated with me and has some real lessons. it was a trauma surgeon and the woman had a traumatic brain injury and she was brain-dead . as part of the evaluation for
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trauma they checked for pregnancy turned up thiswoman was pregnant . she was stable and she was pregnant. it turns out they were working institution that shall we say is less than forward thinking about reproductive rights . and you know, normally this womanwould have been onlife support for 30 days . i'm sorry, 30 months . to carry this fetus to term. and the right thing to do in this situation is to withdraw care on this poor woman who met the legal definition of being dead . i want to tell you the right decision was made in this case but you can see how legislating these kinds of decisions takes away our power and gives power to legislatures who are not necessarily considering the individual rights of the person involved and the best medical care for the persons involved so san francisco marin medical society isproud to be included in this initiative . david has been long been a
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champion of medical freedom. san franciscomarion medical assistance center defend a woman's right to choose . thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. thatconcludes today's event. i want to say to the press if you have questions for anyone today we can do interviews afterwards but i want to say to all of you who are here, thank you. thank you. we have a lot of work to do together but we are going to do it together and we will prevail. let me ask one final request . when we take a grouppicture everyone face this way and see if we can fill in the front will take a photo and then we can all say hello again . >>
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[♪♪♪] ♪ homelessness in san francisco is considered the number 1 issue by most people who live here, and it doesn't just affect neighbors without a home, it affects all of us. is real way to combat that is to work together. it will take city departments and nonprofit providers and volunteers and companies and community members all coming
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together. [♪♪♪] >> the product homeless connect community day of service began about 15 years ago, and we have had 73 of them. what we do is we host and expo-style event, and we were the very force organization to do this but it worked so well that 250 other cities across the globe host their own. there's over 120 service providers at the event today, and they range anywhere from hygiene kits provided by the basics, 5% -- to prescription glasses and reading glasses, hearing tests, pet sitting, showers, medical services, flu shots, dental care, groceries, so many phenomenal service providers, and what makes it so unique is we ask that they provide that service today here it is an actual, tangible
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service people can leave with it. >> i am with the hearing and speech center of northern california, and we provide a variety of services including audiology, counselling, outreach, education, today we actually just do screening to see if someone has hearing loss. to follow updates when they come into the speech center and we do a full diagnostic hearing test, and we start the process of taking an impression of their year, deciding on which hearing aid will work best for them. if they have a smart phone, we make sure we get a smart phone that can connect to it, so they can stream phone calls, or use it for any other services that they need. >> san francisco has phenomenal social services to support people at risk of becoming homeless, are already experience and homelessness, but it is confusing, and there is a lot of waste. bringing everyone into the same space not only saves an average of 20 hours a week in navigating the system and waiting in line for different areas, it helps them talk, so if you need to sign up for medi-cal, what you need identification, you don't
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have to go to sacramento or wait in line at a d.m.v., you go across the hall to the d.m.v. to get your i.d. ♪ today we will probably see around 30 people, and averaging about 20 of this people coming to cs for follow-up service. >> for a participant to qualify for services, all they need to do is come to the event. we have a lot of people who are at risk of homelessness but not yet experiencing it, that today's event can ensure they stay house. many people coming to the event are here to receive one specific need such as signing up for medi-cal or learning about d.m.v. services, and then of course, most of the people who are tender people experiencing homelessness today. >> i am the representative for the volunteer central. we are the group that checks and all the volunteers that comment participate each day. on a typical day of service, we have anywhere between 40500 volunteers that we, back in, they get t-shirts, nametags, maps, and all the information they need to have a successful
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event. our participant escorts are a core part of our group, and they are the ones who help participants flow from the different service areas and help them find the different services that they needs. >> one of the ways we work closely with the department of homelessness and supportive housing is by working with homeless outreach teams. they come here, and these are the people that help you get into navigation centers, help you get into short-term shelter, and talk about housing-1st policies. we also work very closely with the department of public health to provide a lot of our services. >> we have all types of things that volunteers deal do on a day of service. we have folks that help give out lunches in the café, we have folks who help with the check in, getting people when they arrive, making sure that they find the services that they need to, we have folks who help in the check out process, to make sure they get their food bag, bag of groceries, together hygiene kit, and whatever they
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need to. volunteers, i think of them as the secret sauce that just makes the whole process works smoothly. >> participants are encouraged and welcomed to come with their pets. we do have a pet daycare, so if they want to have their pets stay in the daycare area while they navigate the event, they are welcome to do that, will we also understand some people are more comfortable having their pets with them. they can bring them into the event as well. we also typically offer veterinary services, and it can be a real detriment to coming into an event like this. we also have a bag check. you don't have to worry about your belongings getting lost, especially when that is all that you have with you. >> we get connected with people who knew they had hearing loss, but they didn't know they could get services to help them with their hearing loss picks and we are getting connected with each other to make sure they are getting supported. >> our next event will be in march, we don't yet have a date set. we typically sap set it six weeks out. the way to volunteer is to follow our newsletter, follow us on social media, or just visit
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our website. we always announce it right away, and you can register very easily online. >> a lot of people see folks experience a homelessness in the city, and they don't know how they can help, and defence like this gives a whole bunch of people a lot of good opportunities to give back and be supported. [♪♪♪]
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>> this committee will recon until the committee can meet in person. public comments on each agenda item. each speak letter be allowed two minutes to speak. 415-655-0001 to speak access 24975490870. then pound and then pound again. when connected you'll hear the meeting discussion but you'll be muted and listening mode only whchlt your item of interest come up, dial star three to be added to the speaker line. call from a quiet location, and speak cloerly and slowly and turn down your television and radio. you may submit public comment to ocoh dot con
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