[bagpipes playing]

>> welcome to mayor breed's balcony here at city hall. for those of you who don't know me i'm joann haze-white and i'm happy to be host of flag. the flag has played a role including building, engineering, science, mathematics, education, and public service. my father emigrated from ireland in 1949 and like so many immigrants here to california specifically to san

francisco, he found opportunity and a very warm welcome. he also found the love of miz life, my pom patricia haze, a native san franciscan but her parent. so my siblings and i have been raise withed a great pride in san francisco and also in our irish heritage. i'm happy to be joined by my sister patricia haze and she was 1991, rose of trolly. so let's get on to the program. first and for most, the reason we're here today because she is wonderful leader also a native san franciscan, i would like to introduce the 45th mayor of san francisco, mayor london breed. [applause] >> mayor breed: thank you so much chief for stepping in to serve as our mistress of

ceremony in this irish flag raising ceremony and it's always a tliet delight to have you here every year. in fact what i notice every year when we do this flag raising, you start really really early and you don't leave until city hall closes. liam, it still trying to understand what that is all about. but it reminds me of my family when you don't see each other for a long time, it does feel great and one of the other thing that i appreciate about this time of year is it feels like spring is coming. we're start to go see the sunshine, people are coming together and able to celebrate like we were not able to do during the pandemic. so we appreciate it so much more than ever before.

when we talk about the rich irish history, i cannot think about the great water that we are able to drink because of hetch hetchi and san francisco has the best drinking water without a filter anywhere in the country! and thank you so much for that contribution to san francisco because it saves me a lot of money on purchasing bottled water. but also, i just want to express my appreciation for just the support that i've received from this community. you know when i first became mayor under very challenges circumstances, so many of you supported and embraced ed lee and when we lost him and i became mayor, this community truly embraced me. and i was really excited and honored, i still wear this even when it's not saint patrick's day to celebrate the irish in san francisco.

but in 2019, pat, i can tell you this because you can appreciate it. when i agreed to serve as the grand marshal i committed to every single responsibility that i was required to do and liam said, well you don't have to do everything. and i said no, i'm taking my role seriously, i'm going to show up to all the events and activities. so pat, it's your serve serving as one of the prestigious grand marshal it's an honor to do so. not just because of the great parade but also because you have an opportunity to represent the community in so many amazing ways. this community really truly represents public service. making sure that the shut in are not forgotten and that the community is supported. i'm looking forward knowing you are the chair of the famine

memorial committee and now that you're grand marshal, we're going to work hand and hand to make sure it gets done in san francisco. [applause] and i'm really excited that, although i miss robert drisco, he was so great. we welcome you, we look forward to our continual relationship. our new council general, if you have not met him i would be surprised because he's making sure na the relationship between the san francisco and bay area and irish community and ireland continues to exist. we know so many of you, many many years ago, your families

migrated here for a wonderful opportunities. and at a point in san francisco's history, this represented a significant part of our communication and what chief alluded to, really helped to shape the city through engineering and mathematics and so many other marvelous things. as we celebrate and uplift this community, it's a chance to reflect on that history and make sure that we're doing everything that we can to carry on the legacy of the people who came before us. so with that, it is my honor to truly thank you all for being here. and to ask council general smith to come forward as we, celebrate today's flag raising, i want to also say that tonight city hall will be lit up in green during the day of the parade in san francisco, city hall will be lit up in green

and on st. patrick's day, officially march 17th, city hall will be lit up in green to honor that history and on behalf of the city of san francisco, i officially declare an irish-american friendship and heritage day in san francisco. [applause] and i have one more proclamation for pat unique, i want to ask you to come on up and thank you for your work with the treasure island soccer team and so many other great things that you do in the community. we appreciate your advocacy and i know that your children, you have many of them, that they will carry back the legacy of the work that do you and give

back. on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, i officially declare patrick martin uniak day in the city of san francisco. [applause] and with that, everyone enjoy the festivities, enjoy your city hall but please don't get in trouble. i want to make sure that you all get home stavely as you all have a really good time during this flag raising ceremony and all the other great activities that will exist in san francisco over the next couple of weeks. and we turn it back over to chief joann haze. oh, liam is crashing the ceremony. thank you.

>> so last year liam gave me a shamrock crystal, it is absolutely beautiful. this year, it is the american flag. very beautiful, thank you. [applause] all the way from ireland. where waterford crystal is made. so thank you again. thank you deny to dormont or sister city and i know the pandemic stopped me from going to ireland. i cannot be the first mayor in the history 1984 of the sister city relationship to not go to ireland dermont. i'm looking forward to working on a trip sooner than later. thank you all for being here today. [applause] >> thank you so much, mayor breed for your remarks and for your leadership in our city.

at this time, i would like to introduce the relatively new consul general from ireland in san francisco and ironically, the office that i work in is one floor above yours. so i'm down and it's a beautiful place. woiz like to have consul general approach. thank you. >> just look around, my first few months in the city, this is truly amazing. this will really do your heart good. i want to thank mayor london breed for being such a friend of ireland, of the irish and of irish-america and in my short time here, i see what you do for the people of san francisco, thank you. and we will have you in ireland in the next few months, i can promise you. i thought that was for me behind me. keep it going.

today we raise the flag for irish flag in san francisco and not just the heritage but the city that has been a melting pot, the people from all over the world, a community of values and diversity and inclusion and acceptance. this is long been a home to the irish, this is a city that the irish helped built and shape and it's a city where the irish have forjd multi ethnic, friendships and unions. for st. patrick's day this year, we celebrate 100 year in support of peace and international order. i want to recognize, the fact that artmiss the international community for the past 100 years.

member of eu and ecc for the last 50 years and with and sign with the help of irish america. we also celebrate the fact that it's been nine years since the consul opened here. it's a great privilege for us mayor. we also marked the first just resent rethe first anniversary of russia's invasion, the further invasion of ukraine. the u.s. continues to stand with the people of ukraine and we also support as people flee the country, we welcome them to ireland and we support in and imposing sanctions upon russian a. i want to recognize the consul general. i ne the people here of

irish-america has been supportive of you. slavi ukraine'. thank you to liom frost and the board of directors, i know the work that they do every year throughout the year to ensure that st. patrick's day is celebrated across the city. thank you. i also like to recognize the grand marshal pat uniak and his wife, great people and his initial that lead on many initiatives an honor could not be better deserved. thanks, pat. [applause] i should also recognize and thank the mayor's team and maroon, mark, sean, i know is not here, thank you for all of your support. merriam, chief of protocol thank you for welcoming me. as it flies along the stripes,

it's the irish flag is 1 75 years old this year. its history france ireland and u.s. tomas france mayor, a young irelander, brought material orange white and green to ireland. this young irelander finished his days in montana and both u.s. and ireland. i leave it there, but all i can say is, look forward to enjoying this st. patrick's month ahead. by the end it, i will look ten years older, but i'll have a great smile and big heart. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, consul general smith. and i think we're going to be treated to the murphy irish

school of dancers for their performance and while they're setting up, i would like to acknowledge the consul general of ukraine, thank you for being here. and also a friend to many people and excellent city attorney, david chu, thank you for being here. so i leave it to irish dancers. [irish music playing]

[applause] >> thank you to the murphy school irish dancers, let's hear it again for them! [applause] next up i would like to call liam frost, president of the united irish society of san francisco.

>> thank you joann and thank you for stepping up and being the mistress of ceremonies for us. i do want to welcome everybody to the 172 st. patrick's day season, thank you all for coming. i want to thank the san francisco bagpipers and murphy school of irish dancing for entertaining us. those kids are going to be the ones out here either at the podium or sitting where you are continuing our traditions. so it's great that we see them out there and that they're supported in every way that they can be. thank you again. i want to thank the mayor for host hading the flag raising and making us feel welcome. every year we come here, whether it's the covid or we have to move, it's great to get us back in this area. it's amazing what the flag being raised and everybody

being able to come here to enjoy this. i want to thank kevin birmingham and ma rhone from the mayor's office for putting this together. i get a couple of phone calls and they make everything work smoothly and it's amazing. and i do want to welcome our new consul general, niehal, his wife, claire, sorry, the brain thing. and the vice consul general, jennifer chadwick, thank you. i want to thank stephani and the one person that helped her put it on adrian roach and sponsored by the soe, of realtors. so thank you. [applause] putting on the parade and the festival is a lot of work and i

get up here and get the opportunity to get the accolades but it's all the people behind the scenes, my board but especially for parade, kathleen, teresa and james quinn. [applause] and then closing down san francisco to allow us to have that parade, we need the help of a lot of your city agencies, and they do a great job, bill scott, his station, my good friend captain doug and derek and then the man with the boots on the ground, sergeant tobey moore. they do an excellent job for us. [applause] and i want to thank and congratulate our grand marshal, pat uniak, and all the families of the honorary grand marshal. it's definitely a honor but

it's also a commitment and as the mayor said all the events with her busy schedule, we can hope that she leads the way and you can follow. but we appreciate it, your wife una and pat is getting all the accolades but we know you'll be helping him out, so we get it pat. as well as all the families of the grand marshals. thank you. [applause] so it is the season to be irish, we invite everybody to be irish come out and celebrate with us. especially the irish from san francisco, those are two great traditions. the irish traditions are faith, family and community and by all your support, that's what it's all about. let's move forward and hurl into the future. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, very much liam. we're all looking forward to the parade next weekend. next up, i would like to call,

you've known me since i was a little girl. we have retired deputy chief and he served with distinction. [applause] >> thank you, mayor breed, ladies and gentlemen, we are very very happy again to be here with you in this great beautiful city hall to welcome everybody to the st. patrick's day celebrations. and to see, for so long there, we've always taken the mayor back so you are our next candidate to go to ireland. as far as the celebration is concerned this year will be as good as ever. going way back the first parade

was in the 1860s along kearny street. at the time the paper said, and the consul general would appreciate this, that it was lead by a group of is to lar irish men carrying custodycudgels. they were carrying curling sticks. he's also a fine fine athlete coming from ireland. if any man knows how to handle a curling stick is pat and he helped to field the fields. wonderful wonderful candidate and we applaud him and thank him for being the grand marshal of this year's parade. thank you very much and have a great great. >> have something for you. >> thank you merdent. and i would like to present a

certificate of honor you've been involved since the beginning. thank you so much. [applause] >> and next i would like to ask the bagpipers band to come up and receive a certificate from mayor breed. [applause] all right, i see brendan o leaery. come on down, the irish pipers.

thank you to the irish pipers. and finally for their wonderful performance today, the murphy school of irish dance. [applause] so just to close things up, thank you to mayor breed for her welcome into city hall. and saving the best for last, our grand marshal patrick. i know patrick that you knew my

father and i always say, big city small town, i went to school with his daughter teresa who is here today. and the uniak family, pleasure to know you, but our sons, your son and my son are good friends. that's what the irish is about, building communities and friendships. please come out and honor the grand marshal next weekend, march 11, the start of the parade 11:30. thank you. with that, there is a reception for to you enjoy and continue to communicate with each other and celebrating irish heritage. all right. >> are you ready? >> okay, here we go.

[applause]

2023.) (gavel) this meeting will come to order. >> xhfrnd joined by commissioner safai and shortly by a your clerk thank you for sfgovtv for 3wr069 this meeting and mr. city clerk any announcements. >> thank you, madam chair. a reminder for those no attendance to silence all devices not to interrupt the meeting and the board of supervisors and the committees are