>> goovend, everybody. >> how is everyone doing today? >> awe some. great weather we were dreading it would rain today and look at the sky behind me. gorgeous. this was meant to be. my name is natasha i'm the executive vice president the

development at bridge. for northern california. i will also be our mc today. on behalf of bridge and ken lombard could not be here today. i want to welcome all of you and thank you for take the time to celebrate the grounds breaking for potrero block b. bridge was seconded by san francisco to partner with the residents of the potrero community and literally redesign the landscape that you see here. together, we embed on the long over due and critical task of figuring out how to figure out the potrero terrace andaneck. hours of discussion, design charettes and focus groups with the community resulted in rebuilt potrero. an ambitious vision to redevelop the site in a master plan with 1600 housing units, parks and

open space, new street grid other thanning retail and community serving space that grand vision is surely taking shape before our eyes with the development of the second phase with 150, 7 units of affordable family housing and infrastructure. [applause]. 1101 connecticut the building behind you, this you see across the street is 72 family housing units that opened in 2019 as phase one of potrero. potrero block b includes a 6,000 square foot child pace and provide a home notoriety cross cultural family center a childcare provider serving the communities for many years out of 2 existing apartments. in addition the block b development will include 4,000

square foot public minipark. the first of several parks in community serving open spaces that are an important part of this master plan. our mission is to communities. i have been with bridge for many years. i joined the potrero team earlier this year. this is really personal for me. i upon really want to take this opportunity to thank the residents of the potrero community and all the other stake holders including supervisor walton and his staff. mayor breed, staff at mayor's office of housing and oewd. the san francisco housing authority, i see tonya here and staff. hope sf for welcoming mow to the team and post in the our collective effort to rebuild potreroism look forward to working with all of you to further our mission. lastly, a shout out to the small and mighty bridge team.

april tale. susan newfeld. t. j. bryce. listen all instrumental in bringing us together. give everybody on the stake holders the community let's give everybody a round of alaws. [applause] i would like to welcome supervisor walton who has been the champion of the rebuild potrero project. good morning, first of all welcome to the beautiful district 10 the sun is always shining. even with the expectation of rain. this is truly a beautiful day for us here and community to be

breaking ground on another building more housing and affordable housing in san francisco and in potrero hill. my conversations with bridge start in the 2007 and 8 when i was the director of the family resource center and talking about development and talking about how we would rebuild potrero we are 24 years later, we have first unitings up. more units on the way. this is what we really call fulfilling a promise. and we will make sure we continue to finish all the units that are going to be replaced here on the hill. when we replace units we are not replacing community. we make sure community can stay, live here in the same neighborhood where they have been raising family and work for the last decades. i'm excited to be on the board of supervisors to see this enter

fruition. i look at members in communities and folks, note only lived here for their lives and worked here and been a part of making sure we got to this day and thank the community and residents, they have of course had to endure all of the changes and designs. all of the different models before we got to this date and to see the work coming. thank you for your resiliencey to the community and thank you for showing up today. looking forward to had this is finished, we'll be back to cut the ribbon and people are moving in. thank you. [applause] >> thank you supervisor walton. i would now like to invite eric shaw to say a few words, potrero with the other hope sf project in san francisco would not be

possible without the on going support of the mayor and certainly her staff at mayor's office of housing. eric? [applause]. >> thank you very much. and also proud to say i'm interim director of hope sf. i wear 2 hats and proud of both and want to thank and blessed and fortunate in that initiative as well. i'm proud to be here to celebrate the construction of another building of affordable home in potrero hill. it reflects the promise we made to the potrero public housing this no residents be displaced as we transform this to a racially and economically inclusive neighborhood. this is a vision of hope sf to create new possibilities and for a city on aging public housing cites this anies back years and guess back to previous mayors. promise deliver on the vision pass friday mayor to mayor.

because while the city and the person in city hall may change the community deserves these projects. original buildings built 80 years ago and not built to last for as long as they have. we worked to rebuild the community surrender way with residents move in the 72 new homeos 1101 connecticut. this will be here will be the seconded affordable housing to break ground as part of potrero hill master plan. will bring 157 new homes to the neighborhood. 117 of those reserved for current residents already call potrero home and will create 40 additional affordable homes new housing opportunity here as we reimagine this neighborhood. includes 10 units servesh reserved through the preference program so they are not displaced. the building will have on sight

property management and service. community gathering spaces and on sight minipark and the public. affordable childcare approximate this is just the beginning. i am honored gather to break ground on the next step for the community and i can't wait to be here for the grand opening the next decade planning up to 1700 new home in the neighborhood and 65% will be affordable. and as we invest more in potrero and build the housing we the great new community spaces, job ands transit opportunity. celebrate >> moment and lift up our communities and create tunes for all regardless of backgroundses. and for recognitions. i like to thank everyone involved in hope sf. raise your hands. >> [applause] i would like to thank bridge housing and team's architects, contractors and service providers took the time to gather feedback from the

community. your work made sure the voices were heard and the needs were met. i want to thank the san francisco housing authority and are tonya? who has been an amazing partner through this whole journey. and ultramarathon if we call it that we are coming in mile 25? thank you very much for your leadership as well. i want to thank the city departments including all my teams and the mayor's office of housing community development. can you raise you were hands? mocd? and our funders it is all about money and by the way we need more. thank you very much. i always have to ask. the supervisor that was your talk happening points to ask for more money. we will do that off line. i want to thank the california department of housing and communities development. provides fund to the california housing accelerator to allow

this project to move forward this is one of 5 projects hope sf that are funded. i want to thank you very much. and finally i want to thank the community. you put your faith in us and work for us and without you none of this will be happening. continue to work to commit it possible as we strife for a san francisco that is affordable to everyone. and with that i will bring my fellow partner and development and financials from the stage. ditransition. [laughter]. hands it over. >> okay. there you go. all of us should ask for funding. it takes a village in that space. thank you very much for your partnership as well. [applause]. before i start i need to take a picture from up here. i -- all of you etch raised your hand and i am getting pictures one at a time.

congratulations your victory! good job! thank you. >> of course eric. good morning, everybody. i'm hernandez deputy director for communication at the california d. housing and community development. it is my great pleasure to be here today. [applause]. on behalf of governor newsome, yea. don't record that. acd director valasciiys wanted to be here today and our entire departmentive want to wish a congratulations and honest low a thank you. i will go off script as i was upon listening to the speakers and eavesdropping on the side conversations, what really resonateed me and is at the core of great investment is community.

theancy displacement efforts for this project are critical, they are so important and they speak to when we really care about that is giving people safe, affordable homes for long-term. thank you for this hard work. thank you to the community. i know it can be tough to trust government. and work with government. and i hope today you feel some success. we cannot be here without you. [applause]. so as you heard, we invested through our housing accelerator fund approximately 94 million that mean this is project within 6 months went from the, ward to today this . is unpresidented, record breaking and critical to keep this project moving. we put in another 20 million with the california growth council for investment in infrastructure, bike ways,

walkways and making better transit connections the under production of house nothing general and affordable housing coupled with historic red lining and other policies made housing unaffordable for far too many in our state and for too long. we need more communities like this. the housing accelerator will provide approximately 5,000 new housing units throughout the state they will come online extreme low fast. developers like bridge and per ins like in the mayor's office. want to thank mayor breed, eric, your team. we need that commitment. this project is years in the make. and we need that dedication so no matter who is in office the projects move forward and represent the community who deserve and over looked for too long. look forward to victim in the

city of san francisco. look forward to more opportunitiful i will get prishths after this. i'm looking forward to. thank you again and i cannot wait to be back. our director wants to back when we cut the ribbon and welcome more residents home. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. we appreciated both the state and the mayor's office of housing for the funding they have provided this and other projects. i would like to invite jonathan, executive director of j. p. mother abchase. >> chase bank provide financing for block b. in addition to the subsidy funding reach out to the banks and our investors always to get more funding and we want to thank you for your support.

>> thank you. jonathan beach with chase community development bank. an honest torto be here thank you for inviting me. just to start, i joined chase 4 months ago. prior i managed santa clara affordable housing department of i want to admit i have didn't least amount work of anybody here but get the honor of speaking at the ground break. that said, i want to thank bridge. and all of our partners here today and congratulations on the ground break. i have been a fan of bridge for a long time at the city and at chase. and i could not think of a better development team to tackle a complicated and master plan development on a site like this the oldest public housing sights in the city. you know chase roll roll was to provide 150 million dollars in construction financing and 50

million dollars in permanent financing and despite the big number there is is no may the project is feasible without the mayor's office, housing authority. monica mentioned, this project here is an example of the success of the state's housing accelerator program to fund projects that would have been stuck in the bottle neck to get tax credits. this projects this otherwise may not have been funded. who knows where the project would be today without the accelerator program. chase, we funded a number of fais phases through hope sf. we are prud to be a part of the broader initiative. but what is happening at potrero. i want to thank bridge for having us here today and block b is part of the larger goal to the larger goal to increase access affordable housing for everyone. i think we are looking forward

to seeing your vision realized here. and come become to see this master plan development fulfilled. thank you and looking forward to communities thrive here. [applause]. >> thank you. i would be remiss if i did not mention the housing authority as always one of the providers for all the projects here. housing authority [inaudible] and i want to reach out and thank my colleague, tonya, for her leadership and partnership and looking forward to working with you to expedite when we have here. thank you. [applause]. and last but not the least, i want to invite april tality tow come and say a few words. and acknowledge and village of

folks you tell we partnered with to make it happen. >> i want to thank april for her dedication approximate hard work in piecing together the financing, you all just heard how much it takes to put the projects together. and as monica said, and i think eric you mentioned this and jonathan; we applied multiple times for financing throughout state under a different program and not successful. and the govern obviously upon his priority is to increase the amount of affordable housing and expedite building housing. i want to thank april she was curating the applications and trust mow they are not easy. lots of details. i don't know april how many times you applied, twice. >> okay. >> i really would like for to you come up here and say a few

words about the projects, your experience and we want to acknowledge everybody. instrumental to work here today. thank you. >> good afternoon, everybody. i think we can do better. good afternoon, everyone! >> thank you. i'm april tally senior project manager at bridge. i am delighted to be here as it has been a challenging and yet rewarding time.

on behalf of bridge housing i would like to take a few moments to thank several team members for make thanksgiving development a reality. i like to acknowledge the residents of potrero public housing. thank you for your patience with this process. we also like to acknowledge the neighbors of potrero public housing as well. we looic to thank our community based organizations that support and uplift residents such as the chant shanti project, care. stand in peace, neighborhood house and rdj. >> our architects paul, jeffrey, alisa and anthony for the creative design. thanks to gary string and the team at gls for landscape design. i like to thank our consultants at ph pc for financial consultation throughout the predevelopment through construction closing. next i like to thank acc,

sunlight and power. concord group and way point our construction managers on this project. thank you to matt irwin. robert and the kay hill team for partners in the redevelopment of potrero. you all know kay hill was the gc for connecticut as well. we appreciate supervisor walton and his staff for supporting the project and a huge thanks to the california department of housing and community development for helping us >> yes. helping us put your funds from the california housing accelerator. they were in lieu of traditional 4% tax credits and bond [inaudible]. this project would not have been able to start construction and create jobs without them. once again, thank you to the mayor's office of housing and

community development for providing both predevelopment and gap funding. i want to thank ryan. sailor abrendzon dwyer. sarah, lydia and eric shaw. additionally, i like to thank staff at oewd for support and asisterance with needlement approvals and the permit process which can be crazy. special thanks to hope sf staff for your community development effort. thank you to our construction and lendser chase bank for funding the development. i would like to thank acknowledge -- henry, wendy richardson and linda for their hard work and next i like to thank the staff at bridge. we could not have reached such a

mile stone without you our accountant. and also a some thanks to our community and residence dents services team for their work to support potrero residents. thank you to jeffrey mccormick and bpmc for letting the potrero hosting and available to answer questions. and finally i want to lynne and ellen for host thanksgiving events. thank you all. [applause]: >>ing events. thank you all. [applause]: >> music music [music]

[♪♪♪] ♪ 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 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 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 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 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 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 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. [♪♪♪] >> welcome everyone to union square my name is marissa rodriguez and i'm executive director of union square alliance. what a beautiful, sunny welcoming day here in union square. [applause] we are in the heart of san

francisco, the crown rule, union square where the holidays are synonymous with union square. i just want to take a moment to acknowledge all the folks behind me today. it takes a village to ensure that our community is safe vibrant and beautiful as it is today. this time last year, was very difficult for all of us, we were still in the throws of the pandemic and we were coming out of some very challenging times. in fact, throughout the country, we were seeing a rash of retail crime bu. here in san francisco, there was a response like no other. i want to thank our mayor, london breed, our police chief bill scott, for leaning in and ensuring that this was going to be not only a good year but one of the best years that we've

experienced since that day here in union square. soy just want to take a moment to thank them for their leadership and all that they've done. i want to also acknowledge kate of oewd and of rec and park who's park we are in now and all the work that he and his team have done to create this welcoming and safe and enjoyable environment. this work, yes, thank you. [applause] the work that they're all doing is vital to the health of our city. we are in the economic core, union square sits in the economic core downtown and we need our downtown tore thriving and healthy. and they have worked so hard to ensure that it can be so we can continue to support the important services that our city so relies on. this year i'm thrilled to announce that the holidays have done. --begun.

if you see behind me, you see macy's great tree and this is the first year that we're introducing winter wonderful land. after thanksgiving you're going to see a village opening up at holiday plaza, the gateway to union square and where the powell street bart station welcomes our visitors. we want to acknowledge and thank bart for all of their help. in addition we're opening up the subways. today we're having a party to welcome the central subway that will be connecting visitors and welcoming guest back here to union square. so with that, i want to thank you all for being here and i would like to welcome our mayor, london breed. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, marissa and thank you so much for the work that you continue to do to make

union square a wonderful attraction for visitors and people who live here in the bay area. i want to start by saying to all the folks who reached out and asked, mayor are we lighting up the tree and we have not had thanksgiving? and i'll just say, you know, we're so in the holiday spirit this year, more than ever before mostly because we went through a global pandemic. we couldn't come together before. and it was not just that our economy suffered, it was our ability to be together and be around one another and experience the holidays without the concerns like we had in previous years due to covid. and you know, we were anxious to get the holiday started early. so as we move into thanksgiving and move into christmas and hanukkah and all the great holidays that we're going to celebrate, the spirit is in the air.

i know often times there are a number of videos that go viral that try to paint a harsh picture of our beautiful city. but i'm here to tell you, that things have have happened. things are looking up and i'm optimistic and excited about the future. we see hotel occupancy rates increasing, we see more visitors and shoppers in the downtown area. we see retail start to go expand and improve. i'm more excited because we have not had a major toy store in san francisco in a while. and the fact that macy's is investing in having a toy store here in union square is a big deal to the community. when people come to union square and san francisco, i know they want to feel safe. and i know that we have a lot of work to do. but let me tell you about some of the investments, we have a larger, both uniform and you know, those who are undercover,

who are going to be out here who have been out here making sure that we are addressing a lot of the public safety concerns. and i want to thank chief bill scott, all of the members of our san francisco police department and for your work and being out here and being proactive to help keep the public safe. i also want to thank our union square ambassadors, our downtown ambassadors, urban alchamy. we're adding a 150 more ambassadors to the street. the folks you see with the friendly face who are smiling, who are giving you directions, who are dealing with concerns and cleanliness in the area, we have some great people out there doing wonderful work. we also in our ambassador team, retired san francisco police departments who have been really extraordinary and wonderful to address some of the opinion safety concerns. we'll have another 150 ambassadors in the streets of

san francisco adding more eyes and ears ot streets. we're also going to be enhancing the clean up, making sure that we're power washing and cleaning the streets. making sure that the streets smell good. i know that is important to visitors as well. so i'm excited about that, but i also want to say that bart and muni have partnered to make sure that we have ambassadors and support in those stations as well. so in addition to those who want to drive, you can take muni, you can take bart and you can come here to see a show or come here to shop or visit one of our amazing restaurants. the other thing that i'm excited to announce, which i know many drivers would love to hear, we plan to offer one hour free parking in union square garage. [applause] in addition to that, i want to

thank phil park and rec for the work that they're doing to address some of the safety concerns in a number of our garages, there will be more people, more eyes and ears in spoez spaces paying attention to what is happening here, to make sure that we keep you and your belonging safe. a lot of work to do and we know that, things are going to look up for the city this holiday season. i'm looking forward to it, this tree and ice skating rink, but also we know that there have been some vacancies in our downtown corridor. we've gotten rid of some of the bureaucratic that make it difficult to deal with the pop up, things that will be temporary will you will make the experience a downtown even better, working with our artist community. so you may see somebody having a good time and wonder what is

going on here. and it may be one of our local artist, whether it's a visual or performing arts, that is what you can expect downtown. it's going to be fun and exciting and it's going to be a little chilly but the sun is clearly shining today and inviting you back downtown. this is a great place, but also this is an important place. this is an important place to the economic stability of san francisco. making sure these jobs and retail and in our hotels and our restaurants, exist and thrive is also equally important. we are here for not just the residents who live in san francisco but the residents all over the area and people who visit us from the u.s. and other countries. we're here to uplift san francisco and make sure that you leave this area and any part of san francisco with a

great experience. i want to thank you all for being down here today. we want everyone to know that we got eyes and ears on the streets, so we plan to make this one of the best and safest times during the holiday season for those that come to san francisco yet. and at this time, i want to introduce our chief of police, bill scott. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed. good morning, everybody. i want to start my remarks with thanks to mayor london breed. a year ago, almost a year ago today, mayor breed and i stood right over there, right behind these cameras, after one of the worse nights that we've had in a long time in the city. i don't want to regurjitate that story but what i want to

highlight is what happened that day and afterwards because of the leadership of this mayor. i was angry, quite frankly, i was sick to my stomach. and the impact that that left to the people that come here to work and shop and the damage that it did to my city worldwide. mayor, we made a promise that day, that things would change. and i stood behind her to make sure that we delivered. and when i say we, i'm talking about all the people that you see back here and the people behind you. we as a community, had to deliver her promise to make this community and this city safer. i will say, we still have work to do but i'm going to share a story about what has happened in the last year. first of all, i want to thank

all of our law enforcement partners. we have our chief park ranger is here. director of rec and park is here today. you heard about our ambassadors and the mayor has committed more investment to our ambassadors. i want to call the police ambassadors. these are people that dedicated that came back to help at a time when we need it the most. working with the union square alliance, which is one piece that had to happen when the mayor made that promise. but i want to tell you something, through all of that adversity and the disgust of what happened that night t brought us altogether in a different way. because this is our city. this is the place we love and we call home. so here's what happened since

then, i'll speak for the san francisco police department. and you're going to hear from our incredible district attorney jenkins who i am glad to call a partner. here's how we delivered on the mayor's promise. employment was an issue, we quadrupled deployment and at times that deployment increase has been exponential. during the holiday season, last year, you could not come to this area without bumping into a police officer and guess what? that's what will happen this year. we have officers out that you will not see but they're out there for a purpose and that is to arrest people who don't get it. that's when people try to rob after people spend their hard earned money and we want to send a message that that will

not be tolerated in the city of san francisco. hear me clearly. with we doubled the size of the theft unit. and this is the result, we have cases 82 or more with charges pending or about to be filed. they're not only hitting san francisco, but they're hitting throughout the region. that's because of the mayor's commitment. we got an overtime budget that restores some of the overtime that we lost in 20-21 and that helped us deploy officers not only to this community but all over the city. i'm not going to sit here and tell you that everything is perfect because it's not. we rolled up our sleeves and we still have work to do. but that work will be done as a team. that work will be done with a vision of mayor breed and i'm so proud to be part of that work. we have what we call force

multiplier, these are people like reserve officers and like this command post vehicle that you see sitting here, that help us send the message that public safety is important to this city. we care. and i think more important than anything that was said a year ago when the mayor stood there, we had to remind people that we care and it matters because this is our city. so i'm going to end by saying this, it ain't perfect, but things are better. there is a difference here, there is optimism here. last year, we were dealing with people scared to come to work. we were dealing with people scared to come here and shop. after that proments and adjustments that were made, we

had record numbers in terms of people coming here to shop because they felt safer. we cannot and will not let that go. i can sit here and quote statistics here all day long, but if you don't come, none of that matters. and we want to tell you, that when you come here, we want to you feel safe because you're safe. thank you for from so many members until the community, who said, you know what, sfpd and all of your officers, sworn and not sworn, we support you. thank you to the board of supervisors who increased our budget so we can bridge some of our staffing. thank you to mayor breed for provieeding the leadership. thank you to our district attorney, for holding people accountable. thank you to our business community for stepping up and supporting us. thank you to the media for telling our story.

but here's one thing, we will control our narrative in the city because the narrative that has been put out about this city is misleading and it's wrong. i live here, this is my city, my family live here, this is my their city. everybody behind this, podium, this is our city. and this is a beautiful city and we want the world to know it. thank you and with that, i want to introduce our district attorney, rick jenkins. [applause] >> good morning, i'm excited to be here, not just as your da but as a san francisco resident who enjoys bringing my children to this area. they love the tree and they love to ice skate so i'm excited for them to experience the winter wonderful. i want to start by thanking chief scott and mayor breed who

have been amazing partners to put us on track towards a safer san francisco. i also want to thank marissa rodriguez the president of safety alliance who has been big a part and made sure that myself and my office understand the concerns so we can address those concerns and make sure that businesses in our city thrive. i think for the first time in a long time, we've realized the connection between law enforcement and the district attorney's office and our san francisco economy. we can't allow our businesses to be ravaged, the rampant theft to go on and expect them to stay. we need to do better to protect, not only those businesses but the thousands of jobs that they provide to both san francisco and bay area resident who need the ability to take care of their families.

and it's our job to make sure that we protect these businesses and the jobs that they provide as well as the experience that they give, because if you're anything like me, i love a little bit of retail therapy. and we need to make sure that we're protecting the businesses in san francisco so that we have access to be able to shop, to be able to unwind, to join together during the holiday period and share that joyous occasion by the gifts for the family members. i want to be clear today, that the lawlessness and the organized retail theft that we saw this time last year, will not be tolerated under any circumstance. the days of there be free passed for that type of conduct are gone and anyone caught engaging in such conduct will face consequences.

this is a new day! [applause] we will do our jobs to protect these businesses and to protect our citizens and our visitors. and a part of that comes with restoring accountability. like i said, i thank chief scott for everything that they're doing to make sure na anyone who chooses to engage in crime is caught because that's the first step, and what i will promise the city is that there will be accountability on the back end. we will not focus on charging but accountability because that's what has to be restored and that's what i promised to the city to bring back. so i again, i'm just excited to be here, thank you to all the ambassadors who are going to support our city and the police department in making sure that our resident sxz shoppers feel safe. and i look forward to celebrating this holiday season with all of you. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone i'm john sparks and i'm the store

manager here at macy's union square. and i want to start by thanking a few people, jenkins and chief scott and mayor breed and all they're doing to keep the area safe. we are so excited for all of the holiday tradition that's are coming back this year that mean so much for san franciscoian and all of our visitors, including our windows that will come back with live animals. santa's will return to macy's on black friday and we have a toys r us location here. so we're so excited for everything that is happening this holiday season, for our community and thank you to all of our community partners and everything they're doing to keep us safe. thank you so much.

[applause] >> okay, wow, talk about leaning in. i want to thank again all of our law enforcement partners for being here, our district attorney, brooke jenkins, our police chief bill scott and our mayor, mayor london breed, when the lights go on which she have, it means the holidays have begun and it's going to be an incredible holiday season this year. thank you for all of us for coming out. thank you for the alliance team for all you do. the cda, i know is here representing. thank you all and let's have a wonderful holiday season. [applause]

>> i am iris long. we are a family business that

started in san francisco chinatown by my parents who started the business in the mid 1980s. today we follow the same footsteps of my parents. we source the teas by the harvest season and style of crafting and the specific variety. we specialize in premium tea. today i still visit many of the farms we work with multigenerational farms that produce premium teas with its own natural flavors. it is very much like grapes for wine. what we do is more specialized, but it is more natural. growing up in san francisco i used to come and help my parents after school whether in middle school or high school and throughout college. i went to san francisco state university. i did stay home and i helped my

parents work throughout the summers to learn what it is that makes our community so special. after graduating i worked for an investment bank in hong kong for a few years before returning when my dad said he was retiring. he passed away a few years ago. after taking over the business we made this a little more accessible for visitors as well as residents of san francisco to visit. many of our teas were traditionally labeled only in chinese for the older generation. today of our tea drinkkers are quite young. it is easy to look on the website to view all of our products and fun to come in and look at the different varieties.

they are able to explore what we source, premium teas from the providence and the delicious flavors. san francisco is a beautiful city to me as well as many of the residents and businesses here in chinatown. it is great for tourists to visit apsee how our community thrived through the years. this retail location is open daily. we have minimal hours because of our small team during covid. we do welcome visitors to come in and browse through our products. also, visit us online. we have minimal hours. it is nice to set up viewings of these products here.

>> thank you. good morning and welcome to the rules of committee of the san francisco board of supervisors for today, monday, november 28th. i'm the chair of the committee, aaron peskin joined by vice-chair mandelman and committee member supervisor connie chan. our clerk is mr. victor young, mr. young, do you have any announcements >> yes, the board of supervisors and its committees are having hybrid meetings for public comment and providing remote comment. the board recognizes the equitable public access is