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tv   Mayors Press Availability  SFGTV  August 17, 2023 8:30pm-9:01pm PDT

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>> good afternoon, hello. welcome to the ferry building's birthday, yoo hoo! what great weather we have to celebrate. i'm elaine executive director of the port of san francisco and i have the distinct honor of opening up this grand celebration. as the executive director of the port, my team and i have the awesome responsibility of 7 and a half miles of water front and it includes this they majestic building. i want to thank the people who put this together, lillian and justin of my group. thank you people behind the scenes who made it happen. [applause] we've got some very special people here today to make this celebration very grand. we have our mayor, mayor london
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breed, who will speak shortly and we have supervisor peskin and also, thank you, and also we have commissioner ed herrington joining us today. thank you ed herrington. so it was exactly in 1898 when the first vessel arrived here, opening the newly fashion pier and opening an era of prosperity and diversity for our city. for nearly 40 years, it was the bay crossing that welcomed everyone in and out of the city. the bridge went up in 1936. so today, this building is such a special place of travel, of welcoming, of diversity and we know that our ferry passenger ridership is going to go to prepandemickship as we have new routes and ferrylandings.
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[applause] this is a place where people gather for the most important city celebrations, whether that be the pride parade toxer juneteenth to markets and festivals or just to have a day of enjoyment. in our time, this building stayed open during the covid pandemic, getting farmers market getting ready to return safely as soon it could and getting our stores open and being ready for the first passengers ready to travel and now in our economic recovery and vitality, we're hosting millions in celebrations and enjoyment. now, we are going to make a capsule today that will be open in 25 years, in 2048, and when it's opened, i know we'll have one thing to be extremely proud of, we are investing in the future of the ferry building to prepare for sea level rise. so in 25 years, the folks that are standing up here in the
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community, there would be a grand project that we're preparing to raise this building maybe up to 7 feet and to redo this plaza to make it as grand it is today. in 25 years, the people will be thinking about sea level rise and have plans that we're preparing today. i know this building will be a worldwide symbol of san francisco, of welcoming and new opportunities and that's what we're honoring today, the promise of the city. i want to introduce victor coalman who is ceo of hudson community properties. they ensure this building is beautiful and well maintained, that's why the clock tower is covered because she is being painted. and we ensure that we have spectacular diversity and great opportunity for san francisco made products and that the building really reflects our
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values in san francisco. the team has worked hard to make this building special. with that, please welcome mr. coleman. [applause] >> thanks, eileen, welcome everybody to a great celebration. on behalf of the hudson pacific team, we're here and proud to be part of this 125 years. this building is iconic as everybody knows. this very building has lasted through many many events and has been most recently the pandemic. and after the pandemic right now, when you look behind you, we're 90% lease where the san francisco's tenants occupancy. and i could not be more proud than the team in hudson who has catered to the city of san francisco to all the dynamic that we deserve. this building and the city, will celebrate this and many other things to come going forward. with that, as you can see, as
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eileen mentioned, we're about to paint this building and refacing the historic clock tower and on our way to many more exciting things here in the building. we diversified the tenants in san francisco and our marketplace and this city is reflective of what we see here at the ferry building and what we see going forward in the ferry building in the future. as we said here, there is a time capsule and i'm going to put in a time capsule right now, some photos that 25 years from now, will be picked up that will be redone and all the work that we've done to date, will be part of this photos. i'm going to drop this right here. as a little commemoration. [applause] to that end, our company the hudson pacific, we believe that the future is our hands, we're
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excite today work with civic leaders and future business leaders to protect and maintain the safety and security and vitality of the city of san francisco. we have a lot to look forward to. applaud yourself, this is one of the greatest cities in the world. and we're here to celebrate this. [applause] our local leadership here is second to none. through various levels of diversity and positive attributes, you can see the future is going to be very bright and currently, i'm standing here today to segway to introduce, our leader of this city currently today who is focused on business, social, and the future of this city as we stand and as we look forward it is very bright. our mayor, london breed, is a testament to the future of the city and the current aspects of where the growth of the city is.
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please welcome our mayor, because she is going to continue to make massive differences for us. mayor breed! [cheers and applause] >> good afternoon, everybody! welcome to san francisco!, we're so happy to see each and everyone one of you here at the ferry building celebrating 125 years! let's give it up for the official band of san francisco, the lesbian gay freedom band. [applause] don't you just love this city? before there was the bay bridge, before there was the golden gate bridge, there was the ferry building. and this iconic building was home to trains, to cable cars, to street cars, to all kinds of vehicles, to ferries and the fact is, it was iconic back
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then in terms of its significant during a time way during a time when we needed a place like this for so many different modes of transportation to come. when we think about the iconic ferry building, we think about san francisco and we think all of the extraordinary things that this building has evolved to over the years. yes, it was a place that was created for trade, for different modes of transportation, but over the years with changes, we have seen it become this incredible place with over 40 vendors and businesses and playses for people to shop. to eat, to enjoy and to really experience the vibrancy of san francisco. whuz thinks about many of the challenges that this city has faced, in fact, the 1906 earthquake, the 1989 earthquake and two global pandemic, this building continues to stand strong.
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before, the 1989 earthquake, there was a freeway through the embarcadero and some of us remember that freeway which really cast somewhat of a shadow on this building. even though an earthquake can be seen as a devastation, here in san francisco we saw it an opportunity, an opportunity for this location what it can be for the people of the city and those who visit and work in the city and use the ferries and other modes of transportation to come here. that's why being here today and celebrating 125 years of what we are today, is so special. because it's so important to remind us of the past and what we've been through and the challenges. and when we talk about san francisco as a resilient city, one of the most iconic resilient buildings that exist, the ferry building is one of the places that we think about. a place that is withstood
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earthquakes and withstood pandemic and has withstood transition from the smaller buildings that were once the tallest buildings in the city to some more, iconic buildings and the city continues to grow. we know san francisco has experienced challenges but we're grateful and excited to take a moment in time to pause and to celebrate, this extraordinary mind stone, a place that people visit from all over the world. a place that i visit frequently and enjoy smft venues and places to eat and shop. and what i want to say to hudson properties, they have done a really great job of making this space, a vibrant space, providing opportunities to local vendors. and creating a place where anything is possible for anyone who wants to come here. and i want to express my appreciation to elaine and the
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people that work for the port that commissioner, here and commissioner john burton, let's see looks like he's walking towards this way. i want to thu for all the work that you've done and i express my appreciation by giving victor a proclamation and officially declaring ferry building day in the city and county of san francisco! [cheers and applause] i also want to say, that city hall in recognition of this special occasion will be lit up in a cobolt blue so make sure that you take pictures and also we're going to be giving out ice cream. who doesn't like ice cream, 500 lucky people here today, will get ice cream to really
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celebrate this incredible occasion. and what i plan to put in this time capsule, let's see what my team put together. first, i'm going to put my challenge coin that shows a picture of its city hall in gold and it also shows the iconic san francisco skyline and it has my name on it. and also because technology is changing and i think in 25 years, you may not have the ability to print these but you're going to open this time capsule and some people may say, when did they start making actual prints of photos. so i'm going to put in a print of my photograph because in 25 years, there would probably only be digital photographs and my hope is that people will look in this time capsule and think, this stuff is really cool. when i talk to kids, they don't
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even know what a typewriter is, some of you don't know what a typewriter is, that scares me a tad bit. but 25 years from now, we'll be able to open this time capsule and look at what was and as we see technology changing here in the city and county of san francisco, we know just like the ferry building, we'll be leading the way for our technology and innovation and all great things and we're grateful to be here to share with you on this time on this 125th anniversary. and with that, i would like to introduce the president of the board of supervisors, who is joining us here today and represents this district, please welcome aaron peskin. >> thank you, mayor breed. always hard to go after our
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mayor who said everything i had to say. i will add ad lib. this place, since the days preceding the gold rush. this is the building that for 125 years, welcomed our entrepreneurs, welcomed our immigrants, welcomed our residents, welcomed our visitors and established san francisco as a center of commerce on the western seaboard of the united states. it is also an edface that we can learn from. the mayor referenced the mistake that we as a city and state made by wowing this incredible building from our water front and yes this building has survived two pandemic, the 1906 earthquake
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and 1979 and as a result of that, mayor agonos and the board of supervisors, used that opportunity to reunite the ferry building and our water front with downtown and the rest of san francisco which we should be profoundly thankful for. [applause] this building was designed by an architect named arthur page brown who designed another civic structure that we know and love, our city hall. and coy tower and the war memorial all iconic memorial buildings in san francisco. and the reason i evoke him is because there is a lesson to be learned from this building that on occasion of celebrating the anniversary, should not be lost on us and we should remember
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for the next century, as we raise, the ferry building which is that we have a tendency to muck up our historic buildings. we did that to city hall in 1996, then mayor willie brown and the board of supervisors, made the command decision at the taxpayers expense to return it to its grandeur and in deed the same decision was made here in 2003 where we unmucked this building and we should remember that. until 1948, 50 years into this building's life, there was a proposal to raeze, raise this demolished building, and the city fathers they were all men and the state board of harbor commissioners wanted knock this building down because of the
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advent of the car and the freeways and the fact that ferries were no longer the form of transportation. guess what, it's 2023 and now ferries are back in and this building is still here let us, remember those lessons. [cheers and applause] and while i do not for some reason, i do not understand how the power to proclaim ferry building day in san francisco which somehow has been reserved only to the mayor in a charter section that i will undoubtedly try to change, i do on behalf of the board of supervisors have the ability to recognize with our highest honor, the ferry building on the occasion of this 125 years. and this will be the first time that i do not actually present the certificate to a person but place it in a box that we will
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open on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of this incredible edifice. thank you for your steward ship, thank you to your staff, thank you for the unmucking of the building and thank you to those who have stewarded along the way, equity office and now hudson pacific, and let's get another 125 years out of this building. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, so much. weren't those fantastic speakers. the mayor and president peskin taught us so much about this building and what it represents. and i'm going to put a challenge coin into the box and about the soils and what it needs to raise it up. we'll get more information before the 25 years is unfailed. --unveiled. it's time to celebrate this building. thank you all for being here,
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on the 125th anniversary of this most beloved, exquisite, historically utmost building, let's hear from our official band, lesbian and gay freedom band, let's celebrate. thank you! [band playing]
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>> i think there would
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be a lot more suffering. >> if i imagine san francisco without animal care and control, i know there would be thousands of animals every year who just wouldn't get that chance. whether that means going home with a family, being released in the wild without this concerted thoughtful group focused on all these animals. the big picture view and daily care. so many animals would be lost. >> but i don't think people understand what goes on. they don't know how hard the staff works taking care of animals. >> it is just two people. one upstairs and one downstairs and the cleaning is total, 6, 7ish. one side starts off doing chemical, i close these all off so the dogs can't come in the
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back, and then i'm going to spray the back, (indiscernible) >> all the magic to rehome and work with a rescue network and all the medical care and behavioral and enrichment, socialization enrichment, volunteers are amazing. so, i think if i had a waish wish, i wish that san francisco knew more about what we do. >> san francisco animal care and control is a vital part of making sure animals in this community are protected and are cared for. we deal with those domestic and wildlife. one of the primary suction is serve as a shelter. when animals have no where else to go, here is where they come. we take in about 9,000 animals a
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year and the care they receive here and the ability to move from here if domestic on to permanent homes somewhere else, or if you are wildlife you come here and we figure which wildlife rehubibitator to send to. that is the shelter aspect. we also have animal control officers who are available from 6 a.m. to midnight. >> ask them to give us a call, that would be great. the number is 415-554-9400, and you can just ask for rebecca. thank you so much. bye. >> we receive approximately 20 thousand calls a year for assistance, so a lot is wildlife rescue, lost dogs, dangerous situations. we also investigate animal abuse, animal neglect. got a lot
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going on here. >> without us, there would be a lot more (indiscernible) a lot more animals suffering. who would people call? the police? fire? they have their own jobs and don't have resources or knowledge. they don't know how to help animals. so much hoar suffering. >> we took in 2800 animals last year. without a shelter where do the animals go? i think the community would suffer if we were not here. >> whether living on the street or (indiscernible) animals are very important to people, so we are helping humans also, and we are alleviating a lot of suffering by doing our jobs.
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>> we have private and public gardens throughout the garden tour. all of the gardens are volunteers. the only requirement is you're willing to show your garden for a day. so we have gardens that vary from all stages of development and all gardens, family gardens, private gardens, some of them as small as postage stamps and others pretty expansive. it's a variety -- all of the world is represented in our gardens here in the portola. >> i have been coming to the portola garden tour for the past seven or eight years ever since i learned about it because it is the most important event of the neighborhood, and the reason it is so important is because it links this neighborhood back to its history.
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in the early 1800s the portola was farmland. the region's flowers were grown in this neighborhood. if you wanted flowers anywhere future bay area, you would come to this area to get them. in the past decade, the area has tried to reclaim its roots as the garden district. one of the ways it has done that is through the portola garden tour, where neighbors open their gardens open their gardens to people of san francisco so they can share that history. >> when i started meeting with the neighbors and seeing their gardens, i came up with this idea that it would be a great idea to fundraise. we started doing this as a fund-raiser. since we established it, we
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awarded 23 scholarships and six work projects for the students. >> the scholarship programs that we have developed in association with the portola is just a win-win-win situation all around. >> the scholarship program is important because it helps people to be able to tin in their situation and afford to take classes. >> i was not sure how i would stay in san francisco. it is so expensive here. i prayed so i would receive enough so i could stay in san francisco and finish my school, which is fantastic, because i don't know where else i would have gone to finish. >> the scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay here in the city and take classes and having to go somewhere else. [♪♪♪] [♪♪♪]
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>> you come into someone's home and it's they're private and personal space. it's all about them and really their garden and in the city and urban environment, the garden is the extension of their indoor environment, their outdoor living room. >> why are you here at this garden core? it's amazing and i volunteer here every year. this is fantastic. it's a beautiful day. you walk around and look at gardens. you meet people that love gardens. it's fantastic. >> the portola garden tour is the last saturday in september every year. mark your calendars every year. you can see us on the website
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heals >> here >> commissionerllowy >> here >> commissioner jones. andelson and mazzola are excused the rec and park acknowledges we occupant unseed home land of the ramaytush ohlone peoples the original inhabitants of the pel anyone slam we are the ramaytush ohlone's for commitment to mother earth. protectors of the land and with translations, the recommend ram never cd, lost nor forgodden their responsibilities as care takers of the accomplice and all who live in their terrible translator. where we rescue noise our doubt to recognize them through preservation and interpretation of lands. we affirm