world and love creating a community . >> thank you all for being here . first i want to express my deep concern for everyone affected by the wildfires down in southern california and our first responders working to keep them safe. given this morning's earthquake and the one we had about ten minutes ago, i want to remind san franciscans of the importance of emergency preparedness.

i'm working with the department of emergency management to ensure our city's resilience and i look forward to working with s.f. in a similar manner in 2017. when the north bay was ravaged by fires, we saw this devastation firsthand. entire communities lost overnight. we coordinated across regions to raise resources to hit those hit hardest. when one of our communities is hurting we all feel it. the very best thing that we can do right now is to come together. san francisco has already sent a strike team down to support the efforts in southern california and stands ready to assist as we review our own emergency preparedness. it's never been more clear to

me that one of the cornerstone cornerstones of public safety in this city is our great san francisco fire department and those who work tirelessly to safeguard the lives of san franciscans. today i am honored and privileged to announce that i am appointing battalion chief dean crispin as fire chief of the san francisco fire department. >> this is a role that carries immense responsibility and requires a unique combination of vision, leadership and a profound connection to the people of this great city. battalion chief chris ben brings 34 years of distinguished service and

unwavering commitment as a first responder and advocate for underserved populations. he served as captain of chinatown, north beach and so much stations and battalion chief to some of the busiest stations across the city. he has been recognized three times three times for bravery and service for two san franciscans for rescuing the elderly from fires in the tenderloin. battalion chief bowen also served as a 911 responder and has acted as incident commander at over 50 major incidents in san francisco. dean, like myself is also a native san franciscan and a father of two boys. >> he comes from a family that is committed to service. his mother immigrated to the us from nicaragua at the age of 12 and his father is a retired captain of the fire department's arson squad. his grandmother was a senior citizen advocate in the mission

and the founder of the latin american senior citizens association under battalion chief chris leadership. we will advance approaches that make san francisco safer, stronger and more resilient. in his role as fire chief, he will help coordinate san francisco's emergency preparedness public safety initiatives and lead san francisco fire departments community engagement programs while overseeing talented battalions of firefighters across this city. battalion chief crispin for your decades of service and deep commitment to community inspire us all and shown through these past few weeks as we got to know each other. as you take on this new challenge know that i have every confidence that san francisco will not only be safer but stronger under your leadership. please join me in congratulating fire chief dean

crespin. one more step and finally i want to thank former mayor breed for her collaboration in this process and acknowledge interim chief sandy tung. where are you, chief? thank you, chief sandy tong for keeping our city safe during her historic tenure as our first asian american fire chief. thank you. >> and now the floor is yours. thank you, sir. congratulations. >> it is with a heavy heart that we gather here today in light of the tragic events unfolding in los angeles. our thoughts and prayers are with the citizens who are experiencing such incredible devastation. >> we also pray for our first responders who have committed to bring safety and stability to the affected communities.

>> it is the honor of my life to receive this appointment. gathering here in this historic historic bell arts masterpiece is a reminder of the rich history of this city. our history is remarkable and our future is bright. under a new administration, optimism reigns supreme. mayor larry, thank you for bestowing this great responsibly city upon me. i look forward to working shoulder to shoulder with you to achieve the limitless potential of our city. surely there are great challenges but your vision of a more cooperative, efficient and effective city government is inspiring. your love for our city is contagious. i pledge to you that i shall work tirelessly to protect our citizens and visitors. public safety is at the center of your agenda. our department stands firmly with you members of the fire commission. thank you for your attendance.

chief scott. thank you for your attendance. mary ellen, carol woody. thank you for your attendance. public safety chief paul yap. thank you for your attendance. >> i'd like to thank the current command staff led by chief tang. you have collaboratively supported the health and health and safety of the membership of this great department in unison. you have and share the goals in our mission statement achieved. thank you. i received a stark reminder of the seriousness of this position this morning at 702 hours we were struck by a 3.7 earthquake. citizens of this city. our department stands ready to protect you and your loved ones. should disaster strike, we vigilantly train daily and have a comprehensive plan in place. however, we're not complacent. >> we'll continue to work with our partners at dbm to update and implement disaster plans.

mom raised in the mission district. thank you for your love guidance and grace. you spent 65 years of your life worrying about dad and i getting injured in the fire. thank you for your sacrifice, dad. i know you're smiling down on us. >> for 30 years you told me to go to headquarters. well, it took 34, but i finally listened to you and kelly and the boys. >> the loves of my life. thank you for your willingness to embark on this journey with me. this is a new challenge. and as with all others, we'll meet it together. >> family from san diego. brother. sister. niece godson. great everybody. >> i appreciate you making a last minute trip.

but thanks for all your love and support. oal for this depars to ensure it remains in touch with the community it serves. >> department members must concern themselves not just with the beauty of the fire engine or ambulance but the beauty and health of the neighborhood. i will ask our members to engage with the public to form bonds that will move our city forward. >> i'm acutely aware of the potential budget shortfalls we face. i will work collaboratively with other departments and the mayor's office to tackle these issues head on. >> the spirit of san francisco is alive and well in just two days in office our mayor has instilled upon us the power of positivity. >> my dad would often say nothing is done well without enthusiasm. i couldn't be more excited and enthusiastic about the future of san francisco. >> let's get to work. thank you.

>> i'm standing in pauley comes in. chief, would you come over here to san stand and when dean is ready you can stand to your side. >> while dean appropriately thanks his family i want to open it up for a few questions. charles will lead us but i do just want to show the city and county of san francisco that we are ready and prepared. the public safety is our number one priority. the earthquake hit this morning. mary ellen and i were on the phone within 100 and 20s she texted me and said did you feel that? and she immediately got herq team going and coordinated across departments to make sure that everything was safe and sound and it was. and we immediately started

talking about all the tabletop exercises that have been going on continue to go on at fleet week. they had an exercise and so i just want to tell the people of san francisco that this crew behind me is prepared and we will continue to be prepared. we will not stop. we have more work to do. we can always be more prepared. things are coming out as fast and furiously as we see down in los angeles. there is no such thing as being to prepared. and so once again our hearts go out to our neighbors. for our brothers and sisters in the fire department down there, 30 members down there now we're thinking about you and we continue to stay in touch with officials to see how we can be helpful with that. >> so we've got a moment for a couple of questions. members of the media folks want to raise their hands and walk

on your first question. hi, nice to be with kqed. you just said there's 30 members who have gone down to l.a. are more potentially going down and how long are you expecting they'll be there? i'll let you answer that question. >> thank you, mary. and thank you for the question . i was actually just got off a call right before this press conference with my colleagues in l.a. from the department of emergency management. >> there they are. they have been working nonstop since before the fire started and they're tired and they are in the process of requesting additional assistance. they know that we are ready to go. not only my department but i'm coordinating management leads from other departments to go down to help. well, you have to understand is that there is a process by which they county and the city must request the assistance. the worst thing is to arrive uninvited before they're ready. so that is in process and i

fully expect that we will get those mutual aid requests within the coming days. the fire chiefs can speak more to this. this is an active response. the fires are still burning. they're not in recovery yet. some of the things that they are just getting up they've had some shelters up or they're getting assistance centers. centers up. there will be weeks, months and years of recovery and assistance that l.a. will need. we are there to be partners. we happen to have a really very close relationship with l.a. and in emergency management world we actually speak on a regular basis every week, every friday. so we're getting ready to go and we'll mayor's office will be able to share that information once more resources go down. i also just want to thank the fire department. the most important thing right now is firefighting capability and the fire department is providing the need, the fulfilling the requests that are coming through.

>> so the question is to tong remaining with the department once this transition is complete and if so, in what position? >> we have a transition plan in place and on january 21st the transition will be complete and they're going to spend the next 11 days transitioning. and i just want to once again thank you for your service to the city and county of san francisco. appreciate you. sorry. yes, sir. hold on, sir. let me tell you what we're going to do over the phone to figure out how we're managing our resources with sending people to to south l.a. and how we're making sure that we're still safe during standard. those we're going down south are working on an overtime basis or how is that being managed to make sure we still detect and the cisco and resources? >> i've been assured by everybody up here that we are well resourced thatublic safetye

in san francisco first and foremost and any additional resources that we can provide down south we will. but we are at full staff and doing well here in san francisco. >> last one right, carol and and also maybe a better sense of and understand that the requests haven't come in yet but a better sense of what those requests might include in terms of ways that san francisco will be of assistance go for the very first thing i want to share on behalf of unofficially on the behalf of the county of los angeles is to that cash assistance is the only assistance they need from the public right now. they have been inundated with material goods and it is frankly it isn't super helpful because then the fire department has to deal with those. so from the public please go to county of los angeles. they have ways in which people

can make donations for the city fire right now as the most important weather conditions are going to be bad going into next week is my understanding. so they'll be continuing to need fire. what the kind of assnc moving forward is what any disaster does. so the emergency management so that is management skills from across all disciplines to help coordinate the response the assistance to community debris removal is going to be a massive next step and that's something i'm hoping that will be able to send some of our public works management teams down to assist with. and beyond that we're going to hearrotell us what they need ane will provide as we able. let me just reiterate that the support factor i was doing you and i have this in common i was

in new york city on september 11th, 2001 and was part of the recovery efforts through a foundation. and then what we saw in the north bay fires as well we came together we had a relief concert at at&t, then at&t park, now oracle park. people need support through cash and we will share links at our web site on on city websites in the in the coming days. that is really the only thing that can be helpful at this time for our first responders and for those that have lost everything. i want to once again thank fire chief tang and congratulate our incoming fire chief dean crisp . and it's a great day in terms of knowing that we have strong leadership in the new fire chief here in san francisco. congratulations to you and to your family and thank you and i look forward to working closely with you. thank you, sir.

>> thank you

>> my name is lauren. i am the owner and founder of farm branch and we are here at farm branch on [indiscernible] third street, on the corner of third and bryant. we started in 2020, so we are a pandemic baby. all the [indiscernible] expresso selection and [indiscernible] full scale brunch thursday through saturday and catering. we do custom catering and events every day of the week and then we serve all

the walk-in as well. we became known for our cookies and our [indiscernible] the chipper is a chocolate chip cookie, but it also has a expresso and these chocolate cripies which adds texture. that was the cookie the food network named one of the most iconic cookies enthe u.s. which is cool. we take customer service and the overall customer experience so important. we are called the hidden gem every day. people say we didants know you existed. we are proud of what we built and what we are doing and we just are really i think excited for people to find us and see how special we are.

>> once i got the hang of it a little bit, you know, like the first time, i never left the court. i just fell in love with it and any opportunity i had to get out there, you know, they didn't have to ask twice. you can always find me on the court. [♪♪♪] >> we have been able to participate in 12 athletics wheelchairs. they provide what is an expensive tool to facilitate basketball specifically. behind me are the amazing golden state road warriors, which are one of the most competitive adaptive basketball teams in the

state led by its captain, chuck hill, who was a national paralympic and, and is now an assistant coach on the national big team. >> it is great to have this opportunity here in san francisco. we are the main hub of the bay area, which, you know, we should definitely have resources here. now that that is happening, you know, i i'm looking forward to that growing and spreading and helping spread the word that needs -- that these people are here for everyone. i think it is important for people with disabilities, as well as able-bodied, to be able to see and to try different sports, and to appreciate trying different things. >> people can come and check out this chairs and use them. but then also friday evening, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., it will be wheelchair basketball we will make sure it is available, and that way people can no that people will be

coming to play at the same time. >> we offer a wide variety of adaptive and inclusion programming, but this is the first time we have had our own equipment. [♪♪♪]television. >> (music). >> my name is vet at a

original artist based in san francisco. >> i love it i love it i've never seen something else and we see how the people see which is happening and what is going on. kind of cool i wanted to be part of that. >> i saw it 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes you yeah. >> so we have you - yeah. i started going when i was young but not the type of kid would get food but this is something i really have been progressing on a talent from like other artists. >> this is amazing.

>> this is so good yeah, it is so good like the artists. >> i love it. >> what a great project. >> part of the part for have i grants. >> yeah. i love it. >> i serve in for 2 two years now and i really am fortunate to live in a place for art. >> an effort creating places it serve san francisco soul and that makes them want to see this place; right? with the experience of art in san jose experience in from the get-go sometimes our environmentalist has created tests but we have an opportunity for that and have artists in the storefront part

of project you can walk in and experience and hoping we'll be there for a long time. >> this is the first farther easy way of going to spaces i didn't know how it is really cool it would be and we're forced to be in the moment when we're test and creating something really cool. >> makes us feel good. >> as far (unintelligible) done all temporary andk them down i like the temporary aspect base (unintelligible) (microphone distorted) not permanent can enjoy it.

>> >> [music] in the town inside here i'm young. he was putting art, music and drinking together upon today have a nonpretentious pretentious spitz that the community can enjoy each other and the time off we get in this world. [music] >> spends energy elevating artists and credit a safe place. a place to have a community. >> it is i great neighborhood the art district because we have

the contemp refer museum of sf. yerba buena for the arts all of the operators and businesses here we get together and xhoukt and support each other this is a very cool neighborhood to be a part of. [music] paint on canvas is primary low when we do. this is guilty pleasures an all female artist show. it is going to be great. fun we have interactive elements. >> we love having this gem. you know people come in and discover it and get to feel at home. this is like home san francisco >> never be afraid it anybodying on our door. [laughter]. if the hours are post and you had want to seat art we are here

9 o'clock to 5 o'clock most days. [music] >> good morning, the meeting will come to order,. welcome to the january 16, 2025, the first meeting of the year for the govern audit oversight. i'm the chair of the committee i'm joined by supervisor