>> 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]go.

>> shop and dine the 49 promotes local businesses and changes san franciscans to do their shopping and dooipg within the 49 square miles by supporting local services within the neighborhood we help san francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant so where will you shop and dine the 49 hi in my mind a ms. medina tele

>> the sprinkler director for san francisco and want to welcome you all to our launch of new pilot program to help commercial property owners and neighborhood district areas and other districts address graffiti to open their property that's an exciting new program and we're delighted to launch that today and with that, introduce our mayor. >> good morning (clapping) it is great to be back in the inner sunset i miss the folks in the family market the community is especially now in good hands

because of new supervisor who (clapping.) i want to age acknowledge as is person th

the level to make sure we or working together to support businesses in the city and no longer continuing to be a financial grain draining on those businesses especially,

when they didn't anticipate it in the first place so thank the public works and carla and the whole team theirs a lot of graffiti challenges and explain the department of administrative services we see public art and public art is without getting permission in order to put that artwork on someone's property and the difference is oftentimes can't do that without the permission of property owners and the department of public works ask called and they take this rocket seriously we're expanding their capability and kudos to them for being responsive and making the city more beautiful with the work they do and doing a great job oozed best they can i know a lot of work goes into what they do and take pride and this city and

making sure the city is beautiful we predator all the folks from the department of public works and going to hear from one of the business owners in a moment but at this time, i want to i'm going to turn it over to did supervisor who represents this neighborhood and district 7 in general supervisor melgar (clapping.) thank you, london and thank you for aging and adult services this is a game changer as a shopping season that is for that our neighbors and people coming to this city are welcomed and feel like the commercial corridors are not neglected but clean and they're safe and our city and tagging specifically the it is cosmetic really colors the protection of the folks coming and feeling like there is notebook or 0 blight in the

commercial corridors we i don't not that i'm grateful and how important but also for folks in the community to help us in writing this legislation specific folks our president of small business administration in hawaii and all the folks that helped us reedit the legislation and to get it through and colleagues saw the importance of this so thank you, so much and specifically want to say this woman carla was our interim across for the department of public works has been amazing buildings and quickly getting it up and running and make sure we develop the form and how matching the paint and hiring the folks we needed to hire because sometimes, you know, the

city government comes up with ideas and write the legislation but without the partners in the department recognizes the need and importance it is get done thank you, carla and the carman chiu, i had conversations who also was right there to put elbow egresses into it thank you all for the wonderful partnering and the merchant and all did folks that are recognized and get it done and thank you for being here. >> (clapping). >> thank you so much supervisor i want to note thank you for the could i words the public works team is here and really are the ones that made this happen quickly (clapping) thank you to our team. and i'll say the supervisor was pushing us let's get it done and make

that happen quickly and the mayor never has to say anything about the graffiti when will you get it down it takes a village i want to advise the chair of the small business administration to say a few words. >> (clapping). >> we love this legislation absolutely love it and very grateful to supervisor melgar for interesting that and as previously mentioned director short is incredible and corresponding and organizing the team let me briefly tell you any love though legislation at the end of 2020 our commission got an e-mail and the windows kept getting broken so often the insurance will not insure them. okay. board up the windows the

windows get tagged and then a in relation from the city you're going to get fined if you don't clean up and e-mailed us and said where's the support i thought a very good request and i think this legislation is an excellent we are to that question it is something we do in other cities and one other thing just to be clear, technically the business owners legally liable for the graffiti under most contracts it is the small business under those that ultimate have to pay for it even though the owners responsible falls on small business owner this is something that is helpful to small business owners and the small businesses have been asking for i can't say enough for making this happen it is wonderful.

thank you. >> (clapping.) >> thank you. >> we had our city administer carman chu a great supporter of our department of and working hard when the supervisor said can we get it done more quickly what can we do thank you for your support and pushing us to get it down quickly and say a few words to kind of the work. >> it is cool i want to thank the mayor for your leadership not a single day what we're doing better to support our city in the recovery thank you for her instant leadership and thank supervisor melgar and pushing us to move as quickly as we can and i think the expectation of the supervisor and the mayor wruns those ideas are funded it is our

job to make them happen as soon as possible and want to thank our public works team carla for your amazing leadership and for the entire crew for recognizing how important they workday in and out and out in the cold and shout out to them for their hard work in helping our city shine with that, we're going to paint graffiti (clapping.) yes, we have fresh brushes [off mic.] >> how many people are going to [off mic.] >> yes. >> sure. >> also the lead time so [off mic.] thank you for those questions woe employing 6

additional general labors to work on this program and we are goal to be able to address graffiti one 72 hours having said that, this is a brand new program we don't know how many people 800 san francisco folks asking to opt in we may not be able to reach that goal but a great camera e team their experienced and do everything in 72 hours. [off mic.] >> i think that is mainly [off mic.] >> well for the necessarily (laughter.) [off mic.] >> i can't

speak for someone as a people that worked with a number of graffiti artists to express themselves it is important we provide a platform for artists to do that and provide a system to work within but this is basically vandalism and in fact, remember the legislation we got passed to go over people civilly and charged people developed cases when we continue to do with the photos and, you know, video and other things that are used to develop a case that even though we're to the going after people criminally we are seeking financial damages for what a lot of of the vandals are doing to public and private property in the city i can't speak for why we do it is unfortunate but

important we provide alternatives and as a city i feel with many of the great arts program we've been to do that but will not solve the problem complete but ways to abate that but ways to hold people accountability that costs people money okay. let's >> we can sweep by in front of a house in a matter of seconds. the only people who don't like it are the people who get the tickets. >> this is a street sweeping sign. don't let it get you. pay attention. [♪♪♪] >> in the morning, when we first go out, we start at six in the

morning or seven in the morning. we call that our business run. we sweep all the main arteries of the city. after 8:00, we go into the residential areas and take care of all the other customers. >> the idea with the street sweeping program is to get the leaves and the debris off the ground. >> we -- for not only appearance and cleanliness but safety as well. >> we will get anywhere from 2- 7,000 pounds per truck depending on the season and the route. the street sweeper and the choice of the use right now is an error sweeper. they have a motor in the back and it blows winds down one side and carried by air into the hopper. what will mess this up is new -- large pieces of cardboard or sticks or coat hangers. anything that is more than 12 inches. the tube on the tracks is only 12-inch diameter.

>> people asked what they can do to help to keep the city clean. there are people that letter. leaves are one thing. any of the garbage you see is from people being careless. [♪♪♪] >> one cars parked in the way, we can't sweep under the congress. to deal with this, we have parking control officers that are provided by m.t.a. and they go in front of our sweepers and pass out citations to people that are parking the wrong way. once the sweepers sweep past in san francisco, you may park behind the street sweeper. we all know parking is a big issue. north beach hasn't been swept since the eighties because of opposition. but we are getting a lot of

requests to sweep. basically our trucks are 10 feet wide. we stick the brooms out and they are may be 12 feet wide. >> there are a lot of blind spots when driving a large truck pedestrians and bicyclists and cars. and navigates this 22,000-pound truck through the city. >> we involve the public here -- to adhere to traffic laws. these routes were developed back in the eighties around the capability of the sweeper. things have changed since then so we have to adapt. luckily, public works is embracing technology and working on a system to alter our maps. this is literally cut and paste -- cut and paste. we will have a computer program soon that will be able to alter the maps and be updated instantly. we will have tablets in the checks for all of the maps. we will send a broom wherever it needs to go and he has the information he needs to complete

the safety. what is needed about these tablets as they will have a g.p.s. on it so we know where they're at. you do get confused driving along, especially the inner sunset. recall that to the be made a triangle. >> thanks for writing along with us today. i enjoyed showing you what we do and i urge you to pay attention to the signs and move your car and don't litter. with all >> 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.

good afternoon welcome to november 29, 2022 meeting of the board of supervisors. would you please call the roll? >> thank you, mr. president. supervisor chan. >> present. >> supervisor dorsey. >> present. >> supervisor mandelman. >> present. >> supervisor mar. >> present.