>> all right. hello, everyone. i'm san francisco mayor london breed and i'm really -- [applause] ex -- excited to be here today to swear in the future of san francisco. [cheers and applause] i want to start by thanking and acknowledging the board of supervisors joining us today. thank you for the president of the board of supervisor, are walton and safai who represents district 11 and melgar who represents district 7. thank you so much for joining us here today. [applause]

and let me tell you, all of the supervisors and i, when we were kids, we probably, probably wouldn't have thought that we would be leaders of the city. [laughter] because we weren't as responsible as the young people that we see here today. we were having a good time, yes. [laughter] we were going to school because we had to, yes. [laughter] but to take a step like this and apply to be a part of the youth commission is significant. it means that you care about understanding what it means to be involved civically. what it means to give back to your city, to your community, how you understand policy, how you advise people like the mayor and the board of supervisors on things that matter to all of you. it is significant because on top of the work that you're doing in school, your extra sir rick lar activities or sports or

anything else and going out and hanging out with your friends and having a good time, you're also investing the time necessary in order to really make a difference in the city, but also make a difference in your future and so it really is great to be here with all of you to swear you in today for the first time in a few years in person because we've had to do this event online for the past couple of years because of the pandemic and let me just also acknowledge that i know it hasn't been easy for you throughout this pandemic. i can't even imagine if i were in high school during a global pandemic and not able to hang out with friends or to show up to school everyday and to have that sort of environment and you did it online and you still are engaged in wanting to do something for your community. i want you to take a lot of pride in this role and i also want you to commit to this role to show up and to not be afraid to

provide your input. i don't care how other people feel about what you say. if there's something on your mind and there's something on your heart and you believe in it, be fearless in your pursuit for what you believe is important to change policy or to change things in san francisco. others may not always agree but we can also be respectfully disagreeable, make sure diplomacy is a part of the conversation, make sure respect is a part of the conversation because we are really all in this together as we learn from the pandemic and having diverse opinions, having diverse conversations. it's the hallmark of our democracy. it means that we are potentially progressing because there are things that you know that someone else may not know and your ability to share your experiences can make

all the difference in changing that person's heart or mind on an important policy decision. you know, we have a lot of disagreements here at city hall. i'm sure you hear about them but we still know how important it is to work together because at the end of the day, despite our disagreements, there are so many other things, more things we agree on than things that we disagree on. it means that we keep working hard in trying to get to that point where we can make great things happen for the city and county of san francisco. i'm proud of the work we do and just a quick example, free muni for youth, the people who served on the youth commission before all of you and some of you may have participated on the youth commission, it happened because advocacy for young people. when i was a kid, i didn't always have money for bus and sometimes we would get on the bus and the bus driver wouldn't tell us to leave because they knew we were

trying to get to school. there are people who may be able to afford that pass fast or clipper card that you all now use but there are others who can't. and your role and your advocacy on the youth commission or the people before you brought that to the attention of policy leaders like myself at the time when i served on the san francisco board of supervisors and a number of other people and we worked together to come up with the resources to make muni free for young people in san francisco. that is because of the advocacy of this body. it is a powerful body. one that i know each and every one of you will play a significant role in making such a difference in doing great things for san francisco. so i'm really excited, proud and honored to swear you in. so at this time, can we please stand up. to all of folks that we're swearing in.

i see somebody's daddy standing up back there. [laughter] all right. please raise your right hand or how about this. how about you come this way, face the crowd and i'm going to turn around because i know all your parents want to get pictures. [laughter] >> all of you guys face one direction or in the middle. yeah, in the middle. there we go. look at all these young people. yes! i love it. all right. are we ready? i don't believe you. are we ready? >> audience, yes. >> okay. please raise your right hand and repeat after me, i, state your name. do solemnly swear that i will support and

defend the constitution of the united states. >> [repeating] >> and the constitution of the state of california. >> [repeating]. >> against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that i bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation. >> [repeating] >> or purpose of evasion and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties. >> [repeating] >> upon which i'm about to enter and during such time as i serve as youth commissioner for the city and county of san

francisco. >> [repeating] >> congratulations! [cheers and applause] >> all right. we're going to take a picture here. we'll get a few pictures in just a moment because we have two special guests that's going to be saying a few words as well. oh, okay. all right. there will be plenty

of time for more pictures but we want to have a few special guests say a few words and then that will complete our program. i want to also just express my appreciation to all the parents and the guardians and the grandmas and the grandpas and all of the people who are here today to support their children and to support this amazing community because it does take a village and your support means a lot being here today. so, with that, i'm going to ask all of our young new commissioners to have a seat and i'm going to ask the president of the board of supervisors, shamann walton to come up and say a few words. [applause] >> thank you, madam mayor, good afternoon. >> [audience, good afternoon] >> welcome to the high lath of my day. i was talking with supervisor melgar and she was talking about how exciting this is and every time we see our

young people step up and take leadership positions, that's a joy for us. you may or may not know, most of our movements start with young people. youth is usually at the center of the big movements that happen in this country and in this city and across the world so being able to serve as a youth commissioner here in san francisco is a big deal. i want you to remember your oath and the positions that you -- you hold because this is a big deal and taken serious and the policies that you push for, when you knock on my door, you knock on supervisor safai's door and knock on the mayor's door and the policies you push to get implemented in san francisco are lasting policies to you're a part of decision-making for city and county of san francisco and you should be proud of that and we're proud of that and i want to say congratulations, i look forward to working with all of

you. you can reach out to our offices, we will respond and set up a time to hear from all of the youth on the youth commission to see the things you're pushing and working on, so we can be supportive. thank you and congratulations. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, president walton. i want to also ask a young person who actually served on this body to come forward. she served on the youth commission and is now a freshman at stanford university. ladies and gentlemen, welcome adrianna zang. [applause] >> thank you so much, mayor breed for the introduction and for supervisor or president walton for speaking. seriously, elected official support means so much and of course, thank you supervisor safai for being here. hello to all of the new commissioners, to parents,

supporters, family, friends, first off, congratulations on these new commissioners. [applause] it is beyond exciting. my name is adrianazang and i was the former chair of the san francisco youth commission and i was the district seven appointee by supervisor melgar. it has been an absolute joy serving on the san francisco youth commission. for the past two years, i was the district 7 representative and to be honest, i still remember that very exact moment i received the e-mail in which then president norman yee appointed me and i screamed, i cried, i yelled to my parents that i got on the commission and to all of the supporters here, you might think i'm crazy, you're probably right but i know all of these commissioners here today can resonate with that

sentiment. truly bias aside, this commission is the best youth commission in the world. i mean, it's a huge statement and i will back it up, don't worry. um, for the past five years alone, i can name so many achievements that have pushed san francisco towards a more just and equitable future. for example, mayor breed mentioned pre-muni for youth and the next thing is the 2020 ballot that lost by one percent and maybe we'll try again in the near future. we closed down juvenile hall. we created a participatory town hall that had over one hundred youth voices. i mean, how many commissions in the world can say they've included youth in which they are truly seen as equitable partners? and in san francisco, we have. and so that is because of your leadership and that is why i want to share, i promise to make it brief, a few of the lessons i

have learn here for the past two years. to commissioners, staff and adult allies are here to support but do not be afraid to push for your belief. in this nation, we've seen the black lives movement. we've seen the moment for social justice and climate justice and gun control, all led by youth and this is not because of some crazy conspiracy or crazy thing that youth have ideas, it's because you all deserve to be here. and you do have these ideas and i urge you to push for them. the second thing is ask questions. you are appointed for a reason and you deserve to be here, yes. but you are not here only because of what you know but also because of the potential for you to grow and learn and finally, take advantage of every single opportunity. i remember when i was in the vote 16 campaign, i was quite literately thrown into cameras and action and walk and

protests, that was so foreign to me and i know it's foreign to many of you but it has been the most exciting and most growing period of my life. and so finally, to adults and the supporters and elected officials, you all know how amazing these youth are and you treat us and you should treat us as genuine decision-making partners. i say this a lot and many of you have heard it but it's true. there is absolutely no downside to hearing from young people unless you're afraid of what we have to say, so thank you and congratulations. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. very impressive adrianna and we're happy you're doing well in school and those public speaking skills will probably come in handy in the future. [laughter] so, with that, i want to again say thank you all so much for being here today. really proud of each and every one of you, make sure again, that you speak

up, you speak out, that you support one another. that you keep it positive and diplomatic, that you set an example for even the younger generation that's coming up behind you because they are going to be watching you and we're going to be watching you but importantly, we're going to work with you on policy decisions that will hopefully make a real difference in san francisco, so congratulations and thank you all for being here. [applause] and now, picture time.

>> there is a lot of unique characteristics about visitation valley. it is a unique part of the city. >> we are off in a corner of the city against the san francisco county line 101 on one side. vis station valley is still one of the last blue color neighborhoods in san francisco. a lot of working class families out here. it is unusual. not a lot of apartment buildings.

a lot of single family homes. >> great business corridor. so much traffic coming through here and stopping off to grab coffee or sandwich or pick up food before going home. >> a lot of customers are from the neighborhood. they are painters or mechanics. they are like blue color workers, a lot of them. >> the community is lovely. multi-racial and hopefully we can look out for each other. >> there is a variety of businesses on the block. you think of buffalo kitchen, chinese food, pork buns, sandwich. library, bank of america with a parking lot. the market where you can grab anything. amazing food choices, nail salons. basically everything you need is here. >> a lot of these businesses up and down leland are family

owned. people running them are family. when you come here and you have an uncle and nephew and go across the street and have the guy and his dad. lisa and her daughter in the dog parlor and pam. it is very cool. >> is small businesses make the neighborhood unique. >> new businesses coming. in mission blue, gourmet chocolate manufacturing. the corridor has changed and is continuing to change. we hope to see more businesses coming in the near future. >> this is what is needed. first, stay home. unless it is absoluteliness scary. social distancing is the most important step right now to

limit spread of virus. cancel all nonessential gather everythings. >> when the pandemic litly land avenue suffered like other corridors. a few nail salons couldn't operate. they shut down. restaurants that had to adapt to more of a take out model. they haven't totally brought back indoor seating. >> it is heartbreaking to see the businesses that have closed down and shut because of the pandemic. >> when the pandemic first hit it got really slow. we had to change our hours. we never had to close, which is a blessing. thank god. we stayed open the whole time. >> we were kind of nervous and anxious to see what was going to come next hoping we will not have to close down. >> during covid we would go outside and look on both sides of the street. it looked like old western town.

nobody on the street. no cars. >> it was a hard eight or nine months. when they opened up half the people couldn't afford a haircut. >> during that time we kept saying the coffee shop was the living room of the valley. people would come to make sure they were okay. >> we checked on each other and patronized each other. i would get a cup of coffee, shirt, they would get a haircut. >> this is a generous and kind community. people would be like i am getting the toffee for the guy behind me and some days it went on and on. it was amazing to watch. we saw a perfect picture of community. we are all in this together. >> since we began to reopen one year later, we will emerge

stronger. we will emerge better as a city because we are still here and we stand in solidarity with one another. >> when we opened up august 1st. i will not say it was all good. we are still struggling due to covid. it affected a lot of people. >> we are still in the pandemic right now. things are opening up a little bit. it is great to have space to come together. i did a three painting series of visitation valley and the businesses on leland. it felt good to drop off the paintings and hung them. >> my business is picking up. the city is opening up. we have mask requirements. i check temperatures. i ask for vaccination card and/or recent test. the older folks they want to feel safe here. >> i feel like there is a sense of unity happening. >> what got us through the

pandemic was our customers. their dogs needed groomed, we have to cut their nails so they don't over grow. >> this is only going to push us forward. i sense a spirit of community and just belief in one another. >> we are trying to see if we can help all small businesses around here. there is a cannabis club lounge next to the dog parlor to bring foot traffic. my business is not going to work if the business across the street is not getting help. >> in hit us hard. i see a bright future to get the storefronts full. >> once people come here i think they really like it. >> if you are from san francisco visit visitation valley to see how this side of the city is the same but different.