>> hello everyone, i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i am so excited to be here today announced the budget for the city and county ofsan francisco . [applause] i see all the department heads clapping. they're really excited about thesenew budget numbers . when i think about the challenges that have existed in the city i can't help think about all the things that we have tried to do for the past couple of years especially during this pandemic. and when people have made a number of requests for additional services or additional support or additional assistance, it's not just about the dollars and the

policy. it's about the people who actuallydo the work . the people who work for both the city and county of san francisco and the people who work for various nonprofit agencies in san francisco though as we unveiled this 13.95 billion dollar budget for the city and county of san francisco, it's important to take a deep dive into what we need to do as we come out of the global pandemic. we need to focus on the people. we need to focus on our workforce we need to focus on our economic recovery . we need to focus on the challenges that exist with public safety. we need to focus onhelping our most vulnerable and homeless populations and improve our transportationnetwork . so many things to do but i've

got to tell you on this beautiful sunny day in union square i am hopeful . i am optimistic aboutthe future of our city more than i have ever been because i am confident about the investments that we are making . [applause] so let's start off with our economic recovery. any of us remember last november where we saw mass looting that happened in union square . and allof a sudden , people put us on the map virally like they never have before. so what they didn't show was our response to what happened here in union square. not only more of a police presence but also more of our incredible humidity ambassadors who showed up time and time again. the beautifulice-skating rink , tree lighting and all the othe activities . so much so that many of the retail businesses said itwas one of the best years they've

ever had . think about that san francisco and our downtown and our economy, not just our retail spaces but ourworkers . this downtown economy of tourists, this downtown economy of conventions and business visitors generate anywhere close to 30 million people visit a year which creates about $10 billion for our economy. $10 billion. that's not only as it relates to taxes but supported many of the people who work down here. many of the people who work at our hotel rooms and many of the folks who work at our retail establishments and many of our programs and supportive services. so it's important we focus on our economic recovery because it doesn't fall short, it doesn't fall on me that many of our storefronts are empty and we need to do something about

our economic recovery. we need to invest in our businesses and so we're going to be making a significant investment of $50 million for various small businesses to helpwith grants , to help with loans and help with our economic recovery. money that will help support thiscommunity . we're investing almost 20 million additional dollars to help clean our streets. to help improve the conditions of the streets. to make sure the garbage is empty. that the streets are power washed. that we keep san franciscoclean and green . make sure the investment goes towards our community ambassadors who are friendly faces that when people come and visit our beautiful city they have a lot of folks who are native san franciscans who know the right restaurants to go to and the places to visit and the best place to jumpon the cable car without waiting in a long

line . we're going to invest in our economic recovery by making sure conventions are coming back and providing subsidies and otherincentives to make sure san francisco is their firstchoice . when i traveled to promote san francisco , people talk about the city and how much they love it and how they want to come here but what they also talked about is their concerns about safety and there was recently a survey done about publicsafety in san francisco . you want to know what over 1000 10 franciscans said in the survey aboutwhat they want to see ? over 80 percent wanted police officers walking the beach. [applause] we made that happen in union square and we didn't see those mass looting situations occur since then. we have consistently tried to make it happen even though the tenderloin is geographically a larger footprint, we have tried

to make it happen inthe tenderloin community and wewill continue to doso but let's be honest . it's been tough . it's been tough for law enforcement . and we have seen over 400 officers leave our force andwe anticipate more to retire . so in this budget not only are we proposing academy classes, we are increasing the starting pay of police officers. we are adding incentives bonuses for those who choose to stay in san francisco longer and we're going to make a commitment to do everything we can to not only for our police force in san francisco but to also do the reforms necessary to make sure we are leading the way aroundpolice reforms in san francisco . we don't have to choose between having a diverse, incredible, active and engaged law enforcement agency and doing the reforms necessary to increase public safety for all

communities. that is what we're going to continue to do and in fact we have invested significant resources into our street crisis response team. into our street wellness needs, into our street overdosing and by the end of this year when those 911 calls come in for people who struggle with behavioral health, those street wellness teams will be the first responders. those alternatives to policing will be the first responders so that our officers can focus on the crimes they need to focus on and not some of the behavior and challenges that continue t persist not only in san francisco but all over this country . we will also make significant investments in making our streets cleaner and safer and we will also not only support the ambassadors of downtown but the ambassadors and other

resources throughout our city. art streets crisis response teams, our street violence improvement program that supports cross cultural and engaging with the community and dealing with the challenges throughout san francisco will be an important part of the work we do .now i want to talk about homelessness the little bit because we always make significant investments in homelessness but finally this year we are seeing that investment pay off . since 2019 the on sheltered homeless population dropped by 15 percent. and it's taking off since 2018 we've been able to get 6500 people off the streets so while other counties saw an increase in there on sheltered homeless population san francisco finally saw a decline and we should be proudof that . [applause] but we know there is

more work to do.we will invest in our various cabin communities, continue to invest in our various shoulders and many of the hotels that we acquired during the pandemic when funding ran out we are investing the funding to keep those hotels in our portfolio so we can keep people housed. other key investments include making sure that we support our families . $50 million of children and family recovery providing additional support for child care for various families throughout san francisco and a new partnership around mental health . between some of our nonprofit agencies and the university of california san francisco because if what has happened in

these school shootings and other challenges in our school system, if this has taught us nothing else it should teach us that we need to address the crisis that our children are struggling with before they crossed the line. before things get out of control before they take a life or lose their lives themselves . so mental health be a key part of thisbudget in helping our children . in helping our workforce and in helping the people in the city and county of san francisco. there are so many investments. i can't get into every last investment today and this budget but as i said, he focuses include definitely our economic recovery. people that includes children and families. he focuses of this budget include public safety and homelessness. and addressing many of the challenges that we face as the city and i want to also be clear that many of these

investments came about because of what the people of the city and county of san francisco said they wanted. people in communities not just here downtown but folks in the avenues. people on the west side oftown. people in the bayview hunters point. for from all over the community . they want us to make sure they are not forgotten and this budget is not only supporting the economic engine of the city but it's supporting our entire city from every corner of this city is touched in some capacity with additional resources that will truly make their neighborhoods better and ultimately make ourcity better . let me just finally say before i turn it over to some of the amazing people who serve san francisco. i started off talking about services, funding and policy but what makes services,

funding and policy possible are the workforce of the city and when i say workforce of the city it's not just the people who work for the city andcounty . it'speople who work for various nonprofit agencies . many people despite this pandemic still had to show up to clean the streets. to clean the buses, to get people to and from the hospital and many people had to show up to work during this pandemic to this budget wardellworkforce , providing a significant raise over the next two years to ensure they know how valuable they are to continue to see the city work and thrive. but the extension of that is also our nonprofit workforce. we've heard from so many of the nonprofit agencies including those who work in prominently supported housing .they too struggle that they love the work they do but it is hard work and they commute here. as far as lodi and stockton and

other places it is expensive so we are also providing additional support for that workforce, for the nonprofit workforce as well that we can see increases in wages that can hopefully help make life a little bit better for the people who serve and workin the city and county of san francisco . lots of work to do, folks. but let me tell you something. there are people who tried to count san francisco. there are people who have tried to only focus on the negative and takethose various viral videos , put them all over the map. but here's the good news. we know what our city is. we know we are thephoenix. we noticed by earthquakes ,

aides, pandemics when we were left on our own and previous pandemics heard that when faced with a challenge like the phoenix vr we rise to the occasion and we make the investments and we provide the support and we come together as a city like we did during this global pandemic even though you are one of the preeminent cities in the country. we were an example and we saw one of the lowest death rates of any major city in this country and we should be proud of everything that we've done during the pandemic . [applause] so now it's time for a newday . it's time for a new day filled with happiness, filled with joy. filledwith optimism . wesurvived a global pandemic . to tell the story.

part of that story is our economic recovery. part of that story is making life better for the people of this city. part of that story is making theinvestment and seeing those investments get put to work every single day throughout this entire city . i know what is possible in san francisco. we've been through challenging times before. and because of these investments and because of the work that we all are going to doincluding the many men and women who stand here with me today , we're going to see san francisco shine andsee san francisco thrive. i want to thank you all for being here today . we will release the details of that budget so we can start diving in to the specifics but ultimately i'm excited. i'm excited to be to see downtown come alive again. to be welcoming, to be thrivin , for folks to be spending money in all the stores and our

restaurants. i'm excited to hear the bell ring for those cable cars. i'm excited to see people feel safe about going to their homes in the tenderloin. i'm excited to see streets clean and for people to say you know what? san francisco is better than it ever has before and we're going to continue to make sure we not only make thathappen but make sure it continues to happen so people know why this is one of the most incredible beautiful cities anywhere in the world. thank you all so much . [applause] >>with that like to introduce the captain of central station , captain julian ames. [applause] >> good morningeverybody and thank you mayor breed . i want to thank mayor breed, of course chief scott and the entireconnect staff . mayor breed talked about longer than six months ago the mass

looting's in union square. we acted swiftly because of the support from the city. we were ever to get officers down here and now you see the officers by me making a differencein public safety . i look over and i see been over there. as i look at you right there and looking back the six months at the hard work we've done including all ofour partners behind me , to make union square better and safer. i think about the budget that mayor breed just talked about and how important it is. i'll give you one example. one example thismorning in:00 there was a retail store just about 100 yards from here . 8:00 in the morning there's a worker that came to open the door and foundsomebody inside

the store . and their thinking oh my god, there'sa trespasser . luckily we had officers around the corner and she walked forward to find an officer but the officer responded with her and saw an individual and called a couple more officers over.it ends up theindividual comes out, he's not a trespasser, he's a burglar . they came up with four bags of merchandise and had a cop at the front door. this is what i mean. thank you. this is why it's so important to have the officers out there making a difference. we recovered about $4700 in merchandise that would otherwise be gone. it's very important. i was born and raised in san francisco . and worked there for the last 23 years as apolice officer . probably the best profession i couldhave chosen . the best thing i can hear every

day and from you all the community thanking the officers aroundhere , they are the backbone. they are the boots on the ground. they are the ones workinghard and long hours every day to keep our city safe . but union square is the last six months the rest of the city needed as well. the rest of the city deserves it. so i thinkthat's exactly what this budget is going to do so i thank you very much mayor breed . >>. [applause] >> thank you and today we also have one of our wonderful ... i get so manyemails about our community ambassadors . both are always talking about the work that they do. urban out to me, the ambassadors of union square and today we have paul fields with the san franciscowelcome

ambassador program . [applause] >> thank you mayor breed. my name is sue. since i've been a san francisco welcome ambassador i had the honor ofworking with local community partners, business owners and the police department . as part of this team witnessed the value we bring to tourists, natives and san francisco providing insight on restaurants, offering direct i , giving hospitality escorts to destinations. or just a few examples of how we enrich the experience here. when visitors come from all over the world we make them feel at home. our california welcomes outshines southern hospitality.

so thank you so much everyone. it's great to be here. thanks to myteam members. i couldn't do it without them . >> thank you so much, sue. and i want to also introduce someone who is working in the tenderloin every single day. i know that we hear a lot of complaints but i'm going to tell you right now it wasn't for the department of public works and the various agencies that wework with to help keep the streets clean it would be a lot worse . and one of those persons is supervisor for public parks green team is nicole delagarza . >> thank you mayor for the opportunity to speak.

the hard-working men and women at public works. the power washed, pick up meals. cleaning the debris left on the sidewalks and work together on a daily basis to help maintain the city clean. my name is nicole de la garza. i'm grateful to behere. this is my home city . i'm a native occurrence residents of the city and we're grateful for the age increase the mayor has given usfor all our hard work. for the men and women who are boots on the ground every day . the essential workers are out here during the pandemic and 24 hours a day to keep the city safe and clean. thank you to our partners that work with us every day. to help clean and to be a presence in the city.

i'm so grateful for the efforts of everyone. thank you to jade and to carla. they are great leaders and i appreciate all they do for me and for the city . and thank you guys so much. >> last but not least i have one of the owners of schroeder's bar andrestaurant , andy chung. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed. when the pandemic started is no secret hospitality was hit particularly hard. as the rest of the city recovered of the restaurants along the city recovered as well unfortunately the story downtown has been significantly

different . workers have been slow to return back and retail has been slow to recover along with the tourists we count on. a lot of times we feel alone as a hospitality or business owner and you kind of feellike your forgotten . i was really excited to hear about the mayor and city's commitment to revitalize the downtown core this budget goes a long way inproviding that first step . our hope is at the downtown economic core transitions to whatever it becomesin the world of hybrid work , that's the businesses that have made san francisco unique and i know it's been around since 1893. down the street they been even longer than us and our businesses represent the history of our city. so as we transition to the next generation of what downtown becomes we love to see hospitality become a big part of it the mayor has allocated

quite a bit of funds to help the arts, restaurants, bars, music and wehope to use those funds to activate the streets and make downtown an attractive place to come and visit . as she's made a commitment to clean the streets i think our heart is to enjoy those streets. to come back to downtown and support the thing that we all want which is therevitalized new san francisco we canall be proud of . you . >> this is not as traditional as what we've done in the past in terms of announcinga city budget . because the fact is it's so important to me that when we talk about these budget numbers and we talk about these things that we need to do that we definitely understand the people that make those things

happen yes, as mayor i take all the credit for all the good stuff . i take credit for the badstuff too but at the end of the day , the reason why many of the great things that you hear about happening in san francisco, they happen because of so many of the people attending with me here today. the department heads, various these services,nonprofit agencies . the restaurants, the businesse . it's all of us. we really are in this together and as we come out of this globalpandemic went try to remember that . we're here to helpwith this city. we're here to focus on the positive . we are here to develop our own narratives, our own about what san francisco truly is and what it means to us and what it can mean to a visitor when they have a wonderful experience what it can mean to the kids whose walking downtown on their way home from school and feels safe in their community.

it's what we need to do to change the city for the better as i know about being a native san franciscan, i know without a doubt that we cannot only persevere, we can thrive and that's exactly what this budget is going to help us do. it's going to help us thrive as the city and i hope all of you will join me inhelping san francisco bride. let's open the door and get back to work and get back to having fun and having a good time.thank you all so much . >>

>> 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 don't want to be involved in the process after it happens. i want to be there at the front end to help people with something in my mind from a very early age. our community is the important way to look at things, even now. george floyd was huge. it opened up wounds and a discussion on something festering for a long time. before rodney king. you can look at all the instances where there are calls for change. i think we are involved in change right now in this moment that is going to be long lasting. it is very challenging. i was the victim of a crime when i was in middle school. some kids at recess came around at pe class and came to the

locker room and tried to steal my watch and physically assaulted me. the officer that helped afterwards went out of his way to check the time to see how i was. that is the kind of work, the kind of perspective i like to have in our sheriff's office regardless of circumstance. that influenced me a lot. some of the storefronts have changed. what is mys is that i still see some things that trigger memories. the barbershop and the shoe store is another one that i remember buying shoestrings and getting my dad's old army boots fixed. we would see movies after the first run. my brother and i would go there. it is nice. if you keep walking down sacramento. the nice think about the city it

takes you to japan town. that is where my grandparents were brought up. that is the traditional foods or movies. they were able to celebrate the culture in that community. my family also had a dry-cleaning business. very hard work. the family grew up with apartments above the business. we have a built-in work force. 19 had 1 as -- 1941 as soon as that happened the entire community was fixed. >> determined to do the job as democracy should with real consideration for the people involved. >> the decision to take every one of japan niece american o japanese from their homes.

my family went to the mountains and experienced winter and summer and springs. they tried to make their home a home. the community came together to share. they tried to infuse each home are little things. they created things. i remember my grand mother saying they were very scared. they were worried. they also felt the great sense of pride. >> japanese americans. >> my granduncle joined the 442nd. when the opportunity came when the time that was not right. they were in the campaign in italy. they were there every step of the way.

>> president truman pays tribute. >> that was the most decorated unit in the history of the united states army. commitment and loyal to to the country despite that their families were in the camp at that time. they chose to come back to san francisco even after all of that. my father was a civil servant as well and served the state of california workers' compensation attorney and judge and appellate board. my parents influenced me to look at civil service s.i applied to police, and sheriff's department at the same time. the sheriff's department grabbed me first. it was unique. it was not just me in that moment it was everyone. it wasn't me looking at the crowd. it was all of us being together. i was standing there alone.

i felt everyone standing next to me. the only way to describe it. it is not about me. it is from my father. my father couldn't be there. he was sick. the first person i saw was him. i still sometimes am surprised by the fact i see my name as the sheriff. i am happy to be in the position i am in to honor their memory doing what i am doing now to help the larger comment. when i say that we want to be especially focused on marginalized communities that have been wronged. coming from my background and my family experienced what they did. that didn't happen in a vacuum. it was a decision made by the

government. nobody raised their voice. now, i think we are in a better place as country and community. when we see something wrong we have change agents step up to help the community affected. that is a important thing to continue to do. you talk about change and being a leader in change and not knowing whether you have successes or results. the fact of the matter is by choosing to push for change you have already changed things. through inspiration for others, take up the matter or whether it is through actual functional change as a result of your voice being heard. i think you have already started on a path to change by choosing that path. in doing that in april of itself creates change. i continue in that type of service for my family. something i hope to see in my children. i have a pretty good chance with

five children one will go into some sort of civil service. i hope that happens to continue that legacy. >> i am paul, sheriff of san francisco. [ music ]

>> roughly five years, i was working as a high school teacher, and i decided to take my students on a surfing field trip. the light bulb went off in my head, and i realized i could do much more for my students taking them surfing than i could as their classroom teacher, and that is when the idea for the city surf project was born.

>> working with kids in the ocean that aren't familiar with this space is really special because you're dealing with a lot of fear and apprehension but at the same time, a lot of excitement. >> when i first did it, i was, like, really scared, but then, i did it again, and i liked it. >> we'll get a group of kids who have just never been to the beach, are terrified of the idea, who don't like the beach. it's too cold out, and it's those kid that are impossible to get back out of the water at the end of the day. >> over the last few years, i think we've had at least 40 of our students participate in the city surf project. >> surfing helped me with, like, how to swim. >> we've start off with about two to four sessions in the

pool before actually going out and surfing. >> swimming at the pool just helps us with, like, being, like, comfortable in the water and being calm and not being all -- not being anxious. >> so when we started the city surf project, one of the things we did was to say hey, this is the way to earn your p.e. credits. just getting kids to go try it was one of our initial challenges for the first year or two. but now that we've been doing it three or four years, we have a group of kids that's consistent, and the word has spread, that it's super fun, that you learn about the ocean. >> starting in the morning, you know, i get the vehicles ready, and then, i get all the gear together, and then, i drive and go get the kids, and we take them to a local beach. >> we usually go to linda mar,

and then occasionally ocean beach. we once did a special trip. we were in capitola last year, and it was really fun. >> we get in a circle and group stretch, and we talk about specific safety for the day, and then, we go down to the water. >> once we go to the beach, i don't want to go home. i can't change my circumstances at home, but i can change the way i approach them. >> our program has definitely been a way for our students to find community and build friends. >> i don't really talk to friends, so i guess when i started doing city surf, i started to, like, get to know people more than i did before, and people that i didn't think i'd like, like, ended up being my best friends. >> it's a group sport the way we do it, and with, like, close

camaraderie, but everybody's doing it for themselves. >> it's great, surfing around, finding new people and making new friendships with people throughout surfing. >> it can be highly developmental for students to have this time where they can learn a lot about themselves while negotiating the waves. >> i feel significantly, like, calmer. it definitely helps if i'm, like, feeling really stressed or, like, feeling really anxious about surfing, and i go surfing, and then, i just feel, like, i'm going to be okay. >> it gives them resiliency skills and helps them build self-confidence. and with that, they can use that in other parts of their lives. >> i went to bring my family to the beach and tell them what i did. >> i saw kids open up in the

ocean, and i got to see them connect with other students, and i got to see them fail, you know, and get up and get back on the board and experience success, and really enjoy themselves and make a connection to nature at the same time. >> for some kids that are, like, resistant to, like, being in a mentorship program like this, it's they want to surf, and then later, they'll find out that they've, like, made this community connection. >> i think they provided level playing fields for kids to be themselves in an open environment. >> for kids to feel like i can go for it and take a chance that i might not have been willing to do on my own is really special. >> we go on 150 surf outings a year. that's year-round programming. we've seen a tremendous amount of youth face their fears through surfing, and that has

translated to growth in other facets of their lives. >> i just think the biggest thing is, like, that they feel like that they have something that is really cool, that they're engaged in, and that we, like, care about them and how they're doing, like, in general. >> what i like best is they really care about me, like, i'm not alone, and i have a group of people that i can go to, and, also, surfing is fun. >> we're creating surfers, and we're changing the face of surfing. >> the feeling is definitely akin to being on a roller coaster. it's definitely faster than i think you expect it to be, but it's definitely fun. >> it leaves you feeling really, really positive about what that kid's going to go out and do. >> i think it's really magical almost. at least it was for me.

>> it was really exciting when i caught my first wave. >> i felt like i was, like -- it was, like, magical, really. >> when they catch that first wave, and their first lights up, you know -- their face lights up, you know you have them hooked. >> i was on top of the world. it's amazing. i felt like i was on top of the world even though i was probably going two miles an hour. it was, like, the scariest thing i'd ever done, and i think it was when i got hooked on surfing afte.

>> disability and aging services committee meeting wednesday, june 1, 2022 to order. i am the commission president martha knutson. this meeting is being conducted pursuant to the provisions of the brown act and recent executive orders issued by the governor to facilitate teleconferencing to reduce the risk of covid-19 transmission public meetings. ordinarily the brown act means strict teleconferencing we allowed teleconferencing for a meeting during a state of emergency provided that commissions such as ours may make certain findings . to comply with this requirement items five and six on th