>> many of the street corners in all the districts in san francisco, there will be a painting job i have completed and it will be a beautiful paint job. it will be smooth and gold leaf and just wow. and you can't put it down. when i first started, it was hard to get employees to listen to me and go along -- but now, i have a lot of respect. mayor london breed, thank you so much for coming out today to just really celebrate a great milestone. you know, i have told people time and time again that, you know, the city has created so much bureaucracy that when you're trying to get anything

done, it is difficult. most of my time has been spent getting rid of laws instead of creating new ones to get to. yes, instead of being a city of no. and today is an example of that. it is our new bike lanes along our new bike lanes along carlton goodlett place that are long overdue. and that will make this area a lot better and a lot safer. you know, i'm sure for those of you who come to city hall a lot, you might have remembered what things used to be like even before this middle crossing where people, including one of our city officials, was hit by a car along this crossing. more recently, we've had two fatalities on the streets of san francisco and a bicyclist that was hit, as well as a friend of mine who called me and her daughter was hit in

an intersection. here's the thing that people need to understand about san francisco and what we need to do. this city has a lot of different people who move around using different modes of transportation bikes, scooters, skateboards, walking, driving, muni and our infrastructure has got to change to make this city a safer place to move around. no matter what mode of transportation you use. so it does require changes to our street infrastructure. you know when you are driving a car here to grove street, those cars sometimes wouldn't even look when they would turn as bikes would go past. it was extremely dangerous. now it's very intentional. you can't just make a turn without looking because of our new system. i don't know what it's called, but that little thing over there, it's going to prevent a lot of things

from happening to people who are just trying to use these bike lanes to move from here to there. we have a lot of visitors to city hall for so many different reasons, and you know what they do? they just pull up in the front of city hall without looking. sometimes they just pull up in the front of the city hall without looking to see if a bike is coming, opening their doors, their car doors without looking to see what's coming behind them. we have got to change the culture of san francisco. we have got to change the culture by changing the design of our streets and allowing them to be used more efficiently for all modes of transportation, and making them safe. today. well, this this is the one time i agree with a protester here today. less bureaucracy. i agree with that. getting to yes. and today we're getting to yes. we're getting to yes by making our streets safer

for people to use them, especially people who are using bikes and scooters. today. when we did a rally earlier on the steps of city hall, i saw all these bicyclists, all these people driving past and using the new bike lanes as if they were always here. and that's the goal. now, i just saw some bad behavior where i called somebody to enforce that car over there parked in the doggone bike lane. that's the stuff we will be enforcing, and i cannot wait until speed cameras go up next year all over san francisco, because that's going to be another part of the work we need to do to make this happen. i want to thank this is my press conference. okay. i, i want to thank the sfmta. jeff tumlin, the director, all the staff for moving this quickly, for using this as a quick build example for getting the job done,

getting creative. i want to thank all the construction workers. i saw you out here working, you know, moving traffic, organizing this system, getting the yes, i want to thank all the sfmta workers who are out here doing enforcement, who are driving our busses, who are doing all the great work for the city. you know, this is what happens when the city works, right? i want to thank all of our advocacy groups, including walk sf and the bicycle coalition for all their work to help to get to. yes, these important policies. i want to thank the sfmta commission, and i know amanda eakin is going to be speaking in just a moment, but it does take a village. and i know bureaucracy has been complicated, has been frustrating to deal with, and we are finally seeing the magic happen. we are finally getting to yes, and making projects like this happen faster. there will be more to come and i am excited to lead this charge. san francisco is a city that is

getting to yes, we are building up our entire transportation network infrastructure to make our city safer, to make it more efficient. no matter what mode of transportation you decide to use. and this is only the beginning with 78% of the protected bike lanes happening under my leadership, i am proud and looking forward for more to come. thank you. my producer. and with that, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the sfmta commissioner president. okay, amanda eakin. all right. thank you, mayor breed, for your vision and your leadership on safe, inclusive and equitable streets for san francisco. good afternoon, and thank you, everyone for being here. i am a firm believer, like the mayor, that we need to pause and celebrate our successes. an important milestones like this,

i believe, mayor, it was on bike to work day this year, may, which is just a few months ago. that you directed the sfmta to install this quick build project in front of city hall. so we are thrilled to announce the completion of the doctor carlton b goodlett place. quick build project, which is a major milestone to a connected san francisco for everyone. biking. rolling. now we know as mayor said that this very location where we were standing saw 25 collisions between 2019 and 2024 right in front of the heart of civic life in san francisco. and that is an unacceptable number. with this project, like with 17th street, like with third street, like with the battery sansome quick build, like with frida kahlo, quick build, we are bridging critical gaps in our bike network, enhancing safety. and this is so important by

making sure that everyone feels that they belong on our streets, we need to design our streets so that everyone has a sense of belonging, because that is an important value for san francisco. so this key gap connects to the bike network north of city hall and south of city hall. now, throughout the biking and rolling plan, we have learned some fascinating things, and i want to just take a moment to share these numbers with you, because i had to do a double take when i saw these numbers every day in san francisco, 10% of people here bike or roll as a way to get around. so. so what is that? that's like 80,000 people. okay. that's a pretty significant that's much higher of a number than i even had in my own mind every week in san francisco, about 30%, 30% of this entire city uses biking or rolling to get around. so what is that? that's like over 250,000 people in this city rely on projects just like this to feel safe, and a sense of

belonging in this city. and the most impressive number is that 80% of san francisco residents want to bike and roll a lot more, and they would do it if they felt it was safe. but they don't feel safe doing it. so what is that like? if we do the math, that's like over 600,000 people that want this kind of leadership from san francisco. so what i want to help you see is building projects like this is a way that we are responding to what we have been told people want from their government leaders. we are providing choices that are for those of us who do bike affordable, flexible, convenient and fast to get around our city. and so we are making the streets safe and welcoming to people. now, i do just want to say in this moment that we are not yet where we need to be in this city, on safe streets, and i am myself and i

know all of my leaders standing up here today are heartbroken, and they are devastated whenever we learn of harm that occurs on our streets. to anyone who lives in this city and anyone that visits this city as a result of a traffic crash, i want to tell you all that i was in new york city just last week for the annual vision zero cities conference, and that is a place where cities can come together and share with one another what we are learning so we can accelerate progress everywhere. this is such an important thing to do, and i had an opportunity to connect with cities like new york, philadelphia, austin, texas, salt lake city, utah. they are all grappling with their own street safety challenges. and i just want to share two things that i learned at that conference. and these are the things we're going to go forward with. one is that we know what we have to do, where we put in projects like this, it works. i read a study in cambridge, massachusetts this morning because my iphone knows

me better than i know myself. and it's like, you want to read about bike lanes. so it said in cambridge, massachusetts, where they installed the separated bikeway like this, they saw a 300% increase almost overnight in the number of people choosing to ride in that area where we make it safe, people are going to use it. the second thing that i want to say from the vision zero conference is that there are very important technological innovations that are an important complement to the street safety work, and i am so proud that the sfmta board, the sfmta board this month in october approved the ace eighth and final legislative hurdle to allow speed safety cameras to become a reality in san francisco early next year. as i learned and as i learned in new york city, where those cameras have gone into place, they reduce speeding and crashes by 70%. this is incredibly powerful tool that we have lacked power to do for so long. and we're

finally going to get it done. so this was speed. safety cameras are very, very cost effective implementation. so i want to thank you all for being here, for being supporters of safe streets, and for your commitment to the vision of the city where all people feel safe, welcome, and that they belong on our streets in san francisco. and a key person i want to introduce next is our wonderful streets director victoria wise of sfmta to share some thoughts. please welcome victoria. thank you chair ekin. good afternoon everyone. i'm victoria wise, the street director at sfmta. thank you all so very much for being here today. i just want to take a moment and a pause to acknowledge that it's been a very difficult week for our city with the fatalities that we had on our streets. it is very devastating and we feel that every single day. and i want to tell you that from sfmta's perspective, safety is our number one priority. and this

administration has done so much to deliver on that. and this quick build is an example of that very thing where we are connecting a protected bike network. we are closing the gap. you can see it right here from that end to the other end. it is incredible. we are primarily focused on safety and we are data driven. we use high injury network as our guide for where we do our projects. we look at data and let it guide where we make our investments so that we get the biggest bang for our buck. that is key. we are data driven and we are doing everything we can to fulfill our mission of safety. and i just want to share with you that i am extremely grateful to the mta staff that are here behind me and project managers that actually put this infrastructure in the ground. mayor breed talked about that thingy, that bulb out over there. that's our staff right here that did that behind us. so i really want to

take the time to appreciate the. let me tell you, the work that we are doing is working. we have seen a 30% reduction in pedestrian and bicycle collisions on streets where we've implemented quick build projects, just like this. it's working, but i know that it's not enough. i know that we need to do more. i know that we need to cut red tape 100%. and so mayor breed, i want to appreciate you for your leadership, for your vision, and for your dedication and pushing us to cut that red tape very much, because that is how we got that done today. and we got that done in partnership with public works. so i'd like to introduce public works director carla short, who's been instrumental in delivering this project with us. thank you. thank you victoria. thank you everyone for being here today. i think what you've heard loud and clear is when the city comes together and we cut through bureaucracy, we can get things done quickly and

we can have all of those benefits, those safety benefits that you've heard from the other speakers. so san francisco public works is very proud to be a critical partner in the delivery of this project. we have our cement masons who did gutter repair, who built that little thingy over there. we have our street repair, who ground grinded the street and then paved it. our engineers contributed to the engineering of this project. so working together in partnership with the sfmta, when we do these quick, quick build projects that we've been building all over the city, we can achieve those safety goals more quickly and more cost effectively. and so we're so proud to be here today to see the fruits of our labor. and i want to give a big shout out to the san francisco public works team behind me. and over here, project managers paving program managers, cement masons. i don't know if we have anyone from street repair, but it takes everybody working together to deliver these projects quickly and efficiently. and with that,

i want to welcome an advocate from the bike coalition, claire amable, to say a few words. thank you. thank you, director short. hi everyone. my name is clara moblin. i'm the director of advocacy at the san francisco bicycle coalition. just a few months ago on bike to work everyday, we stood on the steps behind us to celebrate black and brown joy on bikes. and at that celebration, mayor london breed promised to install protected bike lanes in front of city hall. and today we see that promise fulfilled. this promise is more than just bike lanes. it also introduces key pedestrian safety improvements for people walking or using wheelchairs as well. while this project spans just one block, the symbolism of these lanes resonates throughout the city. protected bike lanes in front of city hall symbolize a broad vision to prioritize safety for people walking, biking, and rolling or using

human scale devices and a greener and more connected san francisco. this one block represents four years of progress to create safer streets and more sustainable transportation options for everyone. from market street going car free a month before the pandemic to car free jfk to implementing the majority of protected bike lanes across the city, to being the only mayoral candidate to publicly support ocean beach park, mayor breed has championed so many initiatives that promote active transportation and has given people more sustainable options to move around our city. this. thank you. this past week has shown us how desperately our city needs this vision to reach every corner of san francisco. last week, we witnessed one of the most dangerous weeks for traffic violence. this year, we have officially surpassed the number of pedestrian and bicycle

fatalities of 2023. and as we know, any loss of life on our streets is unacceptable and we must move faster to protect people walking, biking and rolling. with strong leadership, we know we can get there. what this project shows us is that when there is political support and will, we can get things done urgently and quickly. quick builds can be implemented quickly and shouldn't take 2 to 3 years to complete. i think we said three weeks. we did this in three weeks. can we get a round of applause for three weeks? in addition, we also need more money to be able to do these things. we need to create this momentum going by passing a visionary biking and rolling plan, one that creates a citywide, interconnected network of car free and people prioritized corridors. so with that, i want to thank you, mayor london breed, for your ongoing commitment to safe streets and to the mta and dpw staff for quickly implementing this project. we look forward to working with you all and to move

future projects forward with the same urgency we see here today. so thank you so much. thank you, claire, and thank you to amanda. victoria, thank you so much to carla. you know, women we're leading in the transportation network world. and i'm loving it. but more importantly, i just kind of want to reiterate this is important for our city. it's important for safety in our city. it's important as we build more housing and we have more people who live here that people have options for the mode of transportation. they choose. and we have no choice. we have to make biking a more safe option. we have to continue to work towards making walking our streets, walking across the street a safer option. you know what brings me so much joy? i've

seen people bike their kids to school, and the kids are growing up and they're hanging on the bikes. they're not even holding on. we're like, almost like amsterdam. they're not even holding on to anything. they're just they're growing up. and it's a part of the culture. and if we want to continue to move in this direction, you know, for those who kind of push back on these projects, understand we're not trying to do something to you. we're trying to do something for our city. we're trying to make it safer. we're trying to make it more efficient. we're trying to allow for different modes of transportation that has a network to move people around safely and efficiently. this is how we get there, and we have only just begun. so please join us in cutting this ribbon. but last but not least, i didn't thank carla short and the amazing folks who work for the department of public works who got the job done and took a lot of pride in getting the job done. you know, people talk a lot of mess about city employee.

they talk a lot of mess about, you know, how much the city is spending on things. but what they don't see oftentimes is the hard work these people do every single day. when they show up and they show out and they take pride and they get these projects done and they do them right, may not be always on time or on budget, but in this case, it was so. thank you so much. and let's cut this ribbonnd. whe your hand. how many city employees here? yeah. thank you. to our hard working city employees. >> i am supervisor melgar. i am the supervisor for

district 7. [music] i am a immigrant to san francisco. my family came when i was 12 from el salvador during the civil war. this place gave us security, safety and an opportunity to thrive, so i love the city deeply, and as a mother of three kids who have grown up as city kids, i'm grateful for everything the city has to offer for people like me and families. i have been politically involved my whole life, either in government or a non profit worker and i care about the community. i care about people around me, and i want to make sure that as the world changes around us, other people have the opportunity that my family did. >> we are back in san francisco

post pandemic. so important to be out supporting our businesses, supporting our neighbors. >> i'm the first woman to represent the district, believe it or not. i'm the first latina elected to the board of supervisors without an appointment first ever, so i do think that (indiscernible) i want immigrants to be represented, women, moms, people that have different experiences because that brings richment to our decision making and i think it makes for betting decisions so that inspired me to run. district 7 is one of the most diverse districts in san francisco both in economics and ethnicity. it spans north from golden gate park. it includes all the institutions in the park, the wheel. the music concourse, mew seem to the south to the

daly city boarder and west to the organization. includes the zoo (indiscernible) all those fun things and to 280 oen the east. includes city college, san francisco state. i had ucsf parnassus so very large geographically. it is mostly single family homes, so it is the place where for generations family (indiscernible) nice parks, lake merced, mount davidson. >> this is like a village within the city, so we are very close nit community. we tend to band together and try to support one another and it is a friendly place and families and people to have a cup of coffee and check out the park. >> ocean avenue, which is the southern end of our district is vibrant commercial corridor that mostly cater tuesday the local neighborhoods and the students. as you go

further west you have the mall which has some of the best pan asian food offerings in the city. if you haven't been there, it is really fun. as you go up a little bit further, there is west portal avenue, which is a very old school commercial district where you can still find antique shops and cobbler shops and as well as like more modern restaurants. it is definitely hopping and full of families on any weekday. >> i'm matt roger, the coowner or (indiscernible) >> carl, other coowner in west portal. >> we are a neighborhood hardware store. been a community institution since it was founded in 1936. we had a little bit of everything. (indiscernible) to gardening or gift buying. >> my entire experience in san francisco is this community. it is a very small town feel

for a big city. the community is caring and connected. >> what makes me excited doing business in district 7 is i know it sell well. i grew up here. i knew a lot of customers, parents of friends. it is very comfortable place and feels like home. >> if you go up north, you have the innerpz sunset commercial corridor which has a awesome farmers market on weekdays and plethora of restaurants. there is everything you need. >> friendly and safe and (indiscernible) i love they bring their kids with them. they teach them how to use their money, and it is something you dont see in too many markets in other communities. i love to see the kids come and talking to you. it is something different then i see from

(indiscernible) >> the ev access to transit in inner sunset and ability to do a lot of shopping on foot, and now the improved biking with jfk closed to cars, because we have a 4 and a half year old who rides her bike. we now have a safe place to go and ride bike jz don't have to to worry about traffic. >> graffiti continues to be one of these things that during the pandemic just got out of control everywhere in the city and i do think that it is hampering our recovery of commercial corridors, so some of the volunteers on west portal avenue, some of the merchants got together with interns at our office to do some hands on abatement and we have been doing it regularly. we are doing it once a week and we have a wonderful neighbor, carrie organizing and storing the paint and supplies

in her office on west portal, but this needs more then just a volunteer efforts. >> i'm grateful for the collaboration. we passed legislation at the board and put $4 million in the budget over the next 24 months to help the department of public works hire laborers and labor apprentices to abate the graffiti on private property on commercial corridors. i think that for a couple years this recovery strategy so we can get back up as normal after this awful pandemic. participatory budgeting is a pot of money that is available every year for district 7 neighbors to propose projects that improve the neighborhood and the district. anyone, any organization in the district can propose a project and then it's a vote. it is popular vote. we have 14 projects just

approved and they span from you know, a vegetable garden at aptos middle school to pedestrian safety projects on (indiscernible) it runs the gamut, but it is wonderful because it allows people to be engaged in a real way, and then to see the outcome of their energy and work, because the things get improved in front of them. >> i like it is really close to the parecollect parks and bunch of businesses as well as a calm feel. it is a very peaceful feel even though it is close to a lot of things. (indiscernible) also not boring. there is stuff to do too.

>> so, there is lots to see and experience in district 7. [music]