is this meeting will come to order. welcome to the february 13th 2025 regular meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors public safety and neighborhood services committee.

i'm supervisor matt dorsey, chair of this committee and i'm joined today by vice chair bilal mahmoud and supervisor danny sautter are always capable. kirk today is ms. monique creighton and together we'd like to express our gratitude to susie nose and the whole team at s.f. gov tv who are facilitating and broadcast the casting today's meeting. >> madam clerk do you have any announcements? yes. please make sure to silence all cell phones and electronic devices documents to be included as part of the file should be submitted to the clerk. public comment will be taken on each item on the agenda when your item of interest comes up and public comment is called please line up to speak on your right. alternatively you may submit public comment in writing in either of the following ways first you may email email them to myself the public safety and neighborhood services committee clerk at imola in iq u e dot c r a white t o in at s f g of dawg or you may send your written comments via u.s. postal service to our office in

city hall number one dr. carlton be good place room 244 san francisco california 94102 if you submit public comment in writing it will be forwarded to the supervisors and also included as part of the official file in which you are commenting. finally, items acted upon today are expected to appear on the board of supervisors the agenda of february 25th 2025 unless otherwise stated. thank you madam clerk. would you please call the first item? yes. this is a resolution revising the type of liquor license reference in resolution number 527-24 from transfer to an issuance and determining that the issuance of a type 90 on sale general music venue liquor license to urban life inc agency to do business this neck of the woods located at 406 clement street will serve the public convenience or necessity of the city and county of san francisco in accordance with the california business and professions code section 23958.4 and requesting that the california department of

alcoholic beverage control impose conditions on the issuance of the license. >> thank you madam clerk. i would like to welcome officer faunce from the san francisco police department's abc liaison unit. >> officer florence, the floor is yours? >> yes. officer finds won't be sick because this is oh yeah. oh my apologies. yes. okay. he won't be speaking on this resolution. >> okay so it's my understanding this is in district one and i understand from supervisor chan's office that she has no issues with this permit planning and the ale you both recommended the transfer and to continue and recommend the revision. so i'd like to open this up to i don't see the app anybody from the applicant present. >> i mean we open this up to public comment seeing no one on the roster yes members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up now along the side by the windows. >> all speakers will have two minutes. it appears we have no public

comment. >> okay so public comment is now closed and seeing no further comments on the roster i'd like to move that the clerk prepare a resolution making a determination that the issuance of a type 90 on sale general music venue liquor license to the applicant would serve the public convenience or necessity. madam clerk, would you call the roll call on that motion? >> yes. and on the motion to forward this resolution to the war with the positive recommendation. chair mahmood vice chair mahmood i member salter high member salter i chair dorsey i chair dorsey i have three eyes. >> thank you madam clerk the motion passes and congratulations to the applicant. madam clerk, can you please call the next item? >> yes. item number two is a hearing to consider that the person to person premise to premise transfer of a type 21 off sale general beer wine and distilled spirits liquor license to dapper hill llc to one businesses dapper located at

1198 pacific avenue will serve the public convenience or necessity of the city and county of san francisco. >> thank you madam clerk and i think now i'll welcome up officer froines from s.f. pd's abc liaison unit officer florence the floor is yours. >> thank you. good morning. you have before you a pc and report for dapper hill to operate as dapper they have applied for a type 21 license and if approved this would allow them to operate an off sale general package store at 1190 1198 pacific avenue. there are zero letters of support zero letters of protest . they're located in plot 136b which is considered a low crime area. they're in census tract one zero 6 or 1 zero eight which is considered a low concentration area central station has no opposition. the sfpd alcohol liaison unit recommends approval with the following condition the petitioners shall actively monitor their area under their

control in an effort to prevent the loitering of any persons on property adjacent to a licensed premises as depicted on abc 253 . >> that's okay. thank you officer. i understand this establishment is located in supervisor sadr's district in hill neighborhood and i believe a supervisor sort of would like to say a few words. thank you chair dorsey yes, i'm happy to support this and want to give some more context for the location and the establishment. it sits in a dense neighborhood but also in between a lot of neighborhoods and because of that i think it's been a a corner store and a grocery store that has been well-received by the neighborhood it sits in between russian hill and hill and chinatown and has been open in its new form for about a year and i think everyone has found it to be inviting and warm and welcoming with with a lot of friendly service there. so i look forward to this improvement the way that this change will make this establishment be a long term

establishment. i understand it's recommended by the police department, by the planning department and also i appreciate the the owners work to make sure that our legacy of neon is carried forward. there's a beautiful neon sign outside the the building. >> thanks. thank you. supervisors. >> sauder and is there a representative from the applicant present? okay. you don't have to but you're certainly welcome to say a few words if you'd like. >> good morning board. >> thank you for having me here . >> i live in a neighborhood and i remember going to the shop when it was a bodega a few years ago and it closed at the beginning of the pandemic and to kind of resurrect the spaces has been an honor. it's a great neighborhood. it's been well received so far by by our neighbors and we know you know, we're looking forward to, you know, being there for

it for the long, long term and your support would be, you know, greatly appreciated. >> thank you. thank you. thanks so much. and i don't see anybody else on the roster. you don't need to say anything else. right. okay. see nobody else on the roster when we open this up to just general public comment or public comment on the item rather yes. >> members of the public who wish to speak on this item should line up now along the side by the windows. >> all speakers will have two minutes it appears we have no public comment. thank you madam clerk public comment is now closed. um and seeing no one else on the roster i'd like to move that the clerk prepare a resolution making a determination that the transfer of a type 21 off sale general liquor license to the applicant would serve the public convenience or necessity. >> madam clerk, would you call the roll on that motion? yes. and on the motion to prepare resolution and forward it to the board with a positive recommendation.

>> vice chair mahmood vice chair mahmud i member salter member salter i chair dorsey chair dorsey i have three eyes. >> thank you madam clerk the motion passes. congratulations to the applicant madam clerk do we have any more items before us today? >> no. that completes our meeting agenda. thank you madam clerk. >> thank you all. we are adjourned

. all right. you all good? can you all hear me now? i'm supposed to look at the cameras but we got the whole crew over here. >> so forgive me as i look at them. i'm not trying to be rude, but thank you all for being here. i want to thank supervisor matt dorsey for being here. i want to thank district attorney brooke jenkins for being here. i want to thank police chief bill scott for being here and marissa rodriguez, the ceo of the union square alliance and scott rowe, its executive director of the year bob wayne a partnership. i want to thank the arts and culture sector that is represented over here to our right. the hospitality sector as well as jeff travel, alex bastian. i want to thank tyler florence for being here. i want to thank our seiu local

87 janitors for being here. really appreciate that. ufc w local five is also here and the building trades. i appreciate labor being in the house. thank you all very much. so good morning everyone and thank you. today we're gathered downtown a place that we can all admit is not what it used to be. anyone who grew up in san francisco remembers going to union square for holiday shopping or seeing the tourists lining up for the cable car. this was the face of our city and we are all still so proud of it. but i want our kids to feel that same sense of pride that we had growing up. downtown's public safety challenges have hurt our economy, our businesses and our workers. it has also hurt the morale of our city. historically our core hospitality area has been split

between three police districts . >> this has been divided. this is already divided limited police resources across an area with unique public safety needs. but it is a new day in san francisco. we are ready to face our challenges head on with a hyper focus on results. >> that's why today i am proud to announce the san francisco police department's hospitality zone task force. this hospitality zone task force will make downtown safe and kick start our economy. >> the hospitality zone task force will supplement existing sf pd deployments leveraging resources that were previously divided. the task force will also work

directly with local businesses and hotels to ensure their needs are met while helping visitors shoppers and convention goers get around safely. this new effort is part of our diversified strategy to get san francisco san franciscans back to work to clean up our streets and welcome more people to our city. it will also coordinate with multiple agency entities like dimock which is currently active in the tenderloin and on sixth street. the task force builds on our work to end the hotel strike. it also complements our effort to fully staff the police department. the sheriff's department and 911 dispatch and to address the fentanyl crisis on our streets through our fentanyl state of emergency ordinance. >> san francisco those tourism and hospitality industries are the lifeblood of our economy.

>> these industries generate 75% of the city's economic impact. they provide tens of thousands of jobs and help fund the services that that support residents in every corner of our city. let me tell you during the jpmorgan health care conference i stopped by union square. >> it was packed. there was people taking up every coffee table in that square. the bars and restaurants not just in union square but here in soma were packed. i stopped by some after our parties. >> there was life everywhere. and i have to tell you i loved every moment of it. that's how it should be. 365 days a year. >> during that conference the mayor's office, s.f. pd

sheriffs, the department of emergency management and other city departments executed an effective public safety plan with a constant visible law enforcement presence. and it worked. the jpmorgan conference is coming back to san francisco in 2026. the task force will be an important part of our public safety plan for next week when we have the lunar new year parade and we have nba all-star weekend. but let's be clear it's going to continue after that every single day. the hospitality zone task force will provide residents and visitors with the security they deserve. >> 365 days a year. >> i am deeply grateful to all

of our partners here today who have worked with us to get this task force off the ground including the san francisco police department, local business leaders and our dedicated first responders. i also want to thank my colleagues at the board of supervisors who are here today and who voted over whelming in favor of our fentanyl state of emergency supervisor. thank you for co-sponsoring that legislation. >> in this new era of collaboration our potential as a city is sky high. while a safe, bustling downtown, we will attract businesses and visitors. we will create jobs, generate revenue and provide better services for everyone in san francisco. when downtown wins we all win. >> now it's my privilege to turn it over to chief bill

scott. >> thank you, chief. thank you. >> thank you, mayor lori. let me begin my comments with thanking our mayor daniel for his vision on this hospitality zone task force. we've proven as a city over and over again that we have what it takes to keep this city a great city as it is and as it should be. i want to also think supervisor dorsey i'm not going to repeat all the things that the mayor gave but i just want to call out a few people. supervisor dorsey for your leadership. this has been something that you have been talking about for quite a while now. and i thank you for your partnership and support of mayor lurie's vision. our district attorney brooke jenkins who is an incredible law enforcement partner. we cannot do our work without her support and the work that she and her office does also

supervisor sartor who hit the ground running and it's been an incredible first month for everything that you have brought to the table. >> so thank you. melissa rodriguez who we will hear from next. i want to thank you because you are an incredible partner and without the union square alliance. >> you know, we've we work through some very difficult challenges in union square and i am so optimistic about the future because of you and your work and the work of your team. >> so with that, let's get down to business and talk about talk a little bit about talk a little bit about what we're here for the hospitality zone task force. this is a vital initiative for us, the san francisco police department because we know how important this corridor is this area is to our city. it's important to our economy. it's important to the image of san francisco.

these are some of the most traveled and the most visited streets and corridors in our city and it's very, very important vitally important that we are pristine 24 hours a day, seven days a week not just for conventions, not just for conferences, not just for the nba all stars but every day. and quite frankly, we've had some challenges trying to do that. i am extremely optimistic with this footprint of the hospitality zone task force because two things we will collaborate with all the work that we're doing and what mayor lori mentioned the demak work, the all the different components the sheriff's department who are here with this the probation department adult and juvenile, our federal partners all that work will be collaborated into this zone to make a difference and to keep our streets safe and clean and i think that is what we all want. so how will we do it? it will take multiple districts

stations who will come together to do their work collaborative and we struggle with that in the past with this task force model will alleviate some of the silos that we've seen in the past. as the mayor mentioned, we're talking about multiple district stations but we haven't had this model before where we put those officers together to work side by side collaboratively with all the other agencies that you see here before you and that is the model that this task force will will will do every day. and this is going to be the basis of our success. a couple of other notes. the zone will be focused and i'll i'll read the streets out in a second but this zone will be focused for the areas where our hotels are our a lot of our shopping corridors are a lot of the tourists when they come to our city and enjoy san francisco, this is where they come. we want them to walk away with a beautiful experience. we want our residents who have struggled with street drug usage and drug dealers on the

corner. that is no more that is no more . now i'm going to say this clearly we know that this work is not an overnight thing. we're not going to snap our fingers and all the problems that we have seen and endured will be gone tomorrow. but i can guarantee you this you will see a noticeable difference with this task force a note of a noticeable difference and you will see it very quickly. >> mayor lori has been very clear with the direction that he wants this to go in. the sense of urgency that we need to get this work done, the collaboration that he and the people of san francisco need to see in order to be successful. and we are we are crystal clear on that direction and we are crystal clear on our mission and we will get this done. we want people to feel safe. we have some of the lowest crime statistics that we've had in decades but that is not

enough. is it evidence that we're doing some of the right things? yes, it is. but that is not enough. i don't know of a mayor during my term and you probably have to go way back in the records that has had his first month with zero homicides during his watch. now i'm going to say this very clearly we have a lot of work ahead of us but it's a great start. car break ins are down 70% even from where they were last year and last year was a record in reductions in car break ins. so we know we have momentum. >> this is one more thing that's going to add to that momentum to get us to where we want to be. >> so as i close, here is what you can expect to see. we will have our command band stationed in the hospitality zone area. you've seen it in union square. that will remain but some also is vitally important to our

success. you will see resources. you will see uniformed officers. you will see honda motorcycle officers, you you won't see the plainclothes officers if we're doing our jobs right. but they will be out there making arrests. when drug dealers come to town we have a message for them. go back to where you came from because it's not happening here and that is so we have a lot of work to do and we are here for you. we want our city to thrive, not just survive and that is what we plan on doing. so thank you mayor lori. thank you for all of our partners in community the business community. >> and with that i'd like to call up to the mike. melissa rodriguez thank you. >> thank you. >> good morning everyone. my name is marissa rodriguez. i'm the ceo of the union square alliance. i first want to acknowledge

those in this room. >> this is our lifeblood right here in san francisco and i want to thank all of you for showing up because you have continued to show up day after day after day to bring our city back. i see neiman marcus. i see macy's. i see you rodney from the chamber. i see as of travel i see bryan fenwick, our hotel community, our hilton, our largest hilton peter, i see you and i know that everyone is here. karen flood, i see you as well. these are the pillars of our community who have been holding us up through the hardest times . the pandemic was not kind to us. i see you tyler to thank you for bringing you back to union square to help us thrive. as i said, the pandemic was not an easy time for us and we have had a difficulty emerging especially with the negative narrative. but i'm going to tell you in this last few months i don't know maybe roughly around november things have changed. >> there is a feeling of

optimism and i want to thank our mayor for being here to support us in 2022. >> the union square alliance did delivered its strategic plan for the district. >> we recognize the things that we knew we needed to see marriott, that we needed to really come out of this and come out strong. this was a new era, a shift in how people experience life. it was different and we needed to meet that moment. but first and foremost the way that we do that is clean and safe. that was clear. that was number one. that is why you have a former prosecutor in this role. >> right? second was economic development. but you can't have the economic development without the clean and safe. >> it has been a two and a half year journey getting here. >> however, within two months of his term not even that we

are here and that is huge. >> and for that i think this mayor deserves a round of applause. >> thank you. >> san francisco and our neighborhoods cannot come back unless we have a thriving downtown and that is union square as well. >> this is the face we put forward. this is our iconic city center. this is where all of you come to work where everyone comes to work. we want to come here feeling dignified. we want to feel safe on public transportation. we want to feel safe when we come in on budget. we want to be able to walk to work and spend a day at work and not worry that a car is going to plow through the door. >> we want to make sure that everyone feels like this is our community that we can be proud of. we are a world class city. there is no place like san francisco so the cable car

runs through union square. we are going to protect it and i thank you so much for your support and our convention center. scott it is our partnership. this is how we bring our city back. we cannot move our convention center west of twin peaks. it is here. it is here to stay and we are going to support it and together we are going to put our best foot forward so that people understand we are this city by the bay. we are the city that everyone loves because we're amazing and we're going to stay that way. let's work hard. let's do this together and thank you again and before i go on i want to welcome and recognize rda another partner that has helped us. thank you. it is not by accident that crime is down because our police chief and rda are working in tandem together to make that happen. this is incredible. this is an incredible time.

let's keep the momentum going. we feel it. we came off a great holiday season. it was like the light switch went off. people came in. we came off jp morgan it was a success. we're going to go into the nba all-star game. it's going to be an even bigger success. we're going to have our lunar new year parade. >> maybe a statue. we'll talk about that later. my god. but we're going to make it happen because our city deserves it. thank you so much and welcome brooke jenkins. >> there is nothing better than having a former prosecutor be my partner in trying to turn union square around. i can say that she we understand each other's language. but no, i'm honored to be here today to express my thanks and my support for this new hospitality's own task force. for the last almost three years, chief scott and i in particular have worked so hard for our department to finally row in the same direction for the sake of our city. but to make sure that accountability and consequences

were a common tone and theme across this city and not only in this city but across the world so that people understood we are not a city that is tolerant of lawlessness. we are not a city that allows anything to go on our streets but that we are going to get back to enforcing our laws in the way that they should be enforced which is across the board. all crime in san francisco is illegal and that has been the case for almost three years. >> but what we know is that it's not enough for that for us to see the data that crime is dropping. >> people have to feel safe and that's about your perception. and when streets are not clean, when they don't see police officers who they know are there to respond if something happens or to prevent something from happening that that data means nothing. and this hospitality task force is important and very significant not only because of where they will be placed in our city but because they will actually engage in foot patrols in these areas and that is

significant to point out. this isn't just officers who are there to respond to calls. these are officers who are intended those who are not plainclothes of course to be visible and to be accessible to our tourists and our shoppers and our in our labor force who is coming to work here every day so that they see the presence of somebody who is there with one sole purpose and that's to keep them safe. because when we have that that aids in people saying okay, the data is one thing but now i can rest i don't have anxiety as i'm walking down the street i feel invited to come shop in union square because i'm not worried about my car being burglarized. i'm not worried about being robbed as i walk out of these designer stores with my bags. that is what is key. and so i just thank you, mayor, for working with the chief and the board to to make this happen. i know, chief, that this has been an uphill battle with the with the low staffing that you're that you're contending with. but that we have made this a priority so that we can get back to the point where we are

fighting this narrative that's been painted of our city and where we are actually making positive experiences not only for those that visit but as i talk to labor all the time for those who work here and live here. that has to be the case because otherwise we'll continue to see store closures and we'll continue to see hotel vacancies and that is something we just cannot sit by and watch. and so thank you all for your partnership and i'll continue to do my job to make sure that we have consequences for those who don't get it right. and i will now turn it over to my district supervisor actually matt dorsey. >> thank you. thank you, everybody. and welcome to district six. this isn't just my district. this is part of my stomping ground and this is where i usually i'll point to the gym and say that's where i where i work out. >> but the reality lately is it's where i pay a membership and occasionally go my parish

church of st patrick's my office, my office weekend offices, the grove. so you see me here a lot. so welcome everybody. and when you come to this neighborhood you really have to express a debt of gratitude to the soma filipinas cultural district and raquel rodan diaz . >> this is the heart of that district and i just want to say ,you know, when the history of this this time is written, you know, with all the economic struggles it was the cultural districts that really stepped up and carried us forward. and i really think soma filipinas is meant as much as any other in the city did that i want to express gratitude also to the house of labor and the people who are here from the janitors and local 87 we've got steam sprinklers, fitters, electric workers as i see here local to hotel workers. >> so much of the safety work that we do is also for the people who come here to work and i want to express our gratitude to that. early in my ten years on the member as a member of the board of supervisors i opened up the hood on police redistricting

working with chief scott and his team and one of the things that we found when we looked at other cities that depend on economic activity for destination activities like tourism and conventions is that san francisco is unique in being a city where you might get up at your hotel room in union square in new york in one police district you cross market street and you're in another police district and you go to the convention center and then you're in yet another police district. there is a better way to do this and i really appreciate the leadership of mayor in recognizing that and in his first month acting on it to fix it to make sure that we are coordinating better and doing everything that we can to protect and better serve the economic interests of this city with this groundbreaking task force. >> i also appreciate mayor larry's leadership in recognizing that this is one step in a process that necessarily includes getting to full staffing in our police department, our sheriff's

department 911 operator and also something that i hearing that i announced this week that i'm going to be holding. you know, we have to also make sure that one key element in our public safety infrastructure is prosecutors. we have to have a conversation too often the district attorney's office is left out of that conversation. so we're going to have a hearing on that to discuss their needs as we go into a difficult budget year. so i'm really excited about this innovation and i'm also excited about some of the colleagues that i get to work with and one that i'm particularly excited to be working with somebody that i supported right out of the gate danny sauder from district three. good morning everyone. thank you. supervisor dorsey mary lori thank you. my name is danny slaughter. i'm your new district three supervisor and so excited about this because it includes a lot of district three and union square and parts of the financial district. but i first want to say thank you to the men and women behind

me in our pink jackets. >> i want to ask for another round of applause for them. you know our ambassadors around the city whether they're in a pink jacket or an orange jacket or yellow jacket. there's some of my favorite people because wherever they are they are immediately making sure that that corner, that block that neighborhood is safer, it's cleaner that there is a friendly presence there, often a friendly smile to make sure that visitors and tourists know where to go. and with today's news we're saying that more help is on the way. we now have more resources and more coordination from our police department and other partners to make sure that this area, this really, really important area is safer. you know, the i think there's a realization from all of us up here that so much of the impression of san francisco and so many of the memories from san francisco are made in these surrounding blocks and we want

them to be good memories. right? we know that these are folks that go back home and go back to their companies and they say they're always asked how was san francisco? we want it to be good news. we want it to be tells of riding the cable car along power street. we want it to be the great jazz at john's grill. we want it to be the ice skating at union square in the winter walk. i mean that's what we want. and so with today's news we're one step closer to that and it comes at the perfect time. these next few weeks the world's eyes will be on san francisco as we celebrate our incredible annual lunar new year. chinese new year parade starting in union square and going on in chinatown. we have so much activity for the nba all-star game although it's going to be at chase center. i've been seeing pop ups up and down union square of different companies that are here to celebrate that with us and we want it to be an incredible experience. today's news make sure it will be thank you once again, we

want to thank all of our community leaders business, arts, culture, entertainment at august hall in the house. and so thank you all for being here. >> we're happy to take a few questions from members of the media, have questions you tell me what exactly? >> yeah. so what is going to be changing is additional officers. the zones are covered now this area is covered by a sector car which is two officers who not only have a responsibility of a pretty large piece of real estate but they also have the responsibility of handling radio calls is really hard when you're going from call to call to concentrate on problems to problem solve these hospitality's own officers will not be assigned radio calls. >> their focus is to problem solve to make sure when they see something that we address it before it becomes a problem and that that alone makes a

huge difference and we have not been able to to do that the way we would like to do that and this effort will allow our officers to have the time they need to actually prevent problems from becoming problems and to focus on the things that they need to focus on. so that's that's a fundamental huge change. the other thing is the coordination union square we've had deployment in union square. we've up that we know about some of the past problems but looking forward since we have upped our deployment assigned a lieutenant who will still be working that detail with with his officers they will combine with the officers that work the soma and there will be daily coordination 24 hours a day, seven days a week. and the same thing goes for the union square officers. they're not assigned radio calls. they can pick up radio calls if they're in an area of their right there where crime occurs or something is happening but they're not assigned radio calls and we've seen that that is a very effective way to police to prevent things from happening. the other thing that's different are resources that

have been assigned to demak. they've been basically the same zone concept as what we've been what we've been using with the mac. but to have the availability of for instance the homeless support team i mean the ace up the healthy streets operation center which has officers and also has a component of of professional staff type personnel who who they problem solved know we try to get people back home who want to get back home. we try to get people connected to the services they need so they're not out on our sidewalks. so the collaboration with this task force and that team is something that we have not really opened the demak model up to the rest of the city because we want to grow smartly but now it's time so they all have access to those resources and other resources so collaboration is the key. these officers won't be able to do it all by themselves. that's why we have all of our partners standing behind us. our ambassadors play a huge

role but it has to be coordinated so better coordination, more resources you will see more visibility, the ability to problems solve effectively because they're not assigned to radio calls and quite honestly, you know, when i was in patrol when you're working a patrol car, your responsibility first and foremost is to go to those calls and people need is is really hard to do that and then do problem solving so this is the model that we're going to go to to make sure that those officers have the time they need to solve our problems. so we're going to share how long the first down will be straight and where the on the key is our ability to to scale things so union square the officers in union square it goes from ten and we've had as many as 40 we scale it when we need to scale it.

this some area is a total of ten working seven days a week but we have the ability to add to that when we need to to scale this model and we've done that for instance during the holiday season we scale up if we have a conference or major convention we scale up our problem has been consistency and what the mayor's vision will do is there will be police officers assigned to this zone seven days a week. no excuses, no nothing will prevent us from deploying and we have had problems doing that. so we're going to dedicate these resources. and let me say this too because you may ask well how come you didn't do this before? we have about a 25% shortage in our staffing in the fleet and in patrol and we have to prioritize our resources and so with the new vision setting priorities, yes it comes at a cost but we'd like to start this off bigger but we started off with a motto that we know we can scale when we need to

and that's how we will start this off. the mayor was quite clear that this has to happen now and i think this is a great way to start but we will scale it when we need to. as a matter of fact in two weeks you'll see it scale or in a week when the nba all stars when those festivities start. but the chiefs got to talk a lot about the feeling downtown . you'll see specific benchmarks this task force will be used to benefit the success. >> well, one of the things that we know and i think district attorney jenkins mentioned this and i think we all mentioned it starting from the mayor i call it the eye test. you know, when you get off the bar and you see 200 people in you and plaza or 200 people here in yerba buena and anything and everything is happening drug sales, drug use, illegal vending hot dog carts there's a feeling of it doesn't feel safe. first and foremost that cannot happen. we cannot allow those types of things to happen.

the other thing is the crime statistics don't tell the whole story but it does tell somewhat of a story because when people aren't getting robbed, when their cars aren't getting broken into and people aren't getting stopped, shot and stabbed that's where crime statistics are derived from and those things aren't happening overall people are going to have better experiences and the combination of what you see, what you feel and then what we know is happening in terms of crime or not happening in terms of crime all of those things combined to a feeling of safety . the other thing is the narrative of what people's experiences are because all it takes is a bad social media post about somebodies terrible experience to go viral and then that permeates with what gets in people's minds about our city. we want as best we can to eliminate the possibility of that happening now that's going to be a lot of work to do that and not to say that there won't be crime but we know certain things we cannot allow. we cannot allow the streets to be out of control with illegal

vending narcotic sales, narcotic uses. we have a lot of mentally ill people walking around our streets. that's the other thing the resources to help those people will be tied in to this collaborative collaborative partnership and we want to make sure those resources get to the people that they need to get to. >> so thank you. let me i i'd also just like to talk about, you know, all the business leaders down here and you know, occupancy rates, storefronts not being shuttered but actually being opened. we will look at all of those statistics in terms of measures of success. mr. mayor, real quick, the news of the day on curious attorney general bondi said that she's going to cut away federal funding towards sanctuary cities. how much does going to stand to lose our deficit to listen, we're monitoring everything coming out of d.c. this was a hit. we were hit with this about eight years ago. we fought back. we actually won in the courts and so district attorney sorry

city attorney david chiu is working on this as we speak mission. we're going to ask for your support, your decision to leave that office wondering what went into that decision and how that aligns with your vision for the future. >> listen, i talking to colleagues at the bar supervisors over the last month what we have stated early and often in my administration is we are going to have a new day and a new era of cooperation and collaboration. i'm looking for commissioners across commission appointed ments who will work with us that will collaborate and that will communicate and i look forward to the support going forward of all of the commission important appointments that i make. yeah.

over time to fill this team is there going to be like a central coordination between all these agencies to make sure that the information that needs to go out is being shared? well, let me answer the overtime now these officers are assigned to this task force seven days a week. we can scale up using overtime which we often do because of our staffing shortages in terms of communications, yes, that's one of the tenets of this is communications across the board between districts the task force, the two components of it have to communicate and i'll just add to this you know what helps our communications now is our our fort cameras that we have across the city are drones where we're able to track cars that are committing crimes in union square when they come to some or any other part of the city and we've been able to make some great arrests because

we are communication communicating properly. so yes, communication is a part of this. the officers are assigned full time and we can scale up using overtime when we need to too. >> thank you. so some of these questions one is when you see what the task force are and it seems that it's going to be something that's going or it started it started last weekend. okay. and then what are you going to do because the perception of security is awful especially you know, the mentally ill health. yeah, that's you you so how can we really basically, you know, make that take care of that or you be so close to you is clearly not going to tell us to call so well this is where i want to think are the supervisors we just passed a federal state of emergency ordinance 10 to 1. it's going to allow us to stand up more mental health beds, more drug treatment beds, more shelter beds, hire more case managers, more first responders

more quickly. so we are tackling that issue. i want to reiterate what the chief said. all of these things will not happen overnight but we put one foot in front of the other. we have a successful jpmorgan health care conference like we did have a successful lunar new year weekend which we plan to do next week an nba all-star game and then we start inviting the world back to san francisco and telling them that we are open for business. we are working day and night together with everybody that you see up here. this is really truly a new era of cooperation between departments, between labor, between the business community, the arts community and i'm looking forward to continuing on the momentum. >> okay. we can we can we can get we'll get you a map. >> okay. thank you all. thank you to everybody from the thank you to everybody from the

hi, i'm chris and you are watching san francisco rising. this is about rebuilding and reimaging the city. we will talk about revitalizing downtown. >> thank you for having me. >> the initiatives in the downtown area and enjoy businesses. perhaps you can tell us about your plan. >> yeah, sure. well, you know, first i'd like

to acknowledge we are here visiting union scare. this is the heart of the city and people come to celebrate life's greatest moments whether it's the holidays or buying your prom dress or getting married. you always think about union square as a place to celebrate. we would like to continue in that celebration especially postpandemic. this is a great place to celebrate life. we want to be creative getting people outdoors. we are still coming out of the pandemic and enjoying what we have to offer think about the beautiful hotel and historic district. we have world class shopping destinations and theater here

we are using our strike thattic plan there was a time when weus people want r want a bit of everything appeared experience. one of the newest initiatives is union square. in you come down you will see blooms cascading from hotel awnings and blooms on historic building fronts. you will see them on bus stops. you can go to many of our restaurants and they have cocktails. they have food and of course, being connected withification we have our bloom gown that's behind me. so, a announcement f ways to celebrate blooms.

this is another great time of year for union square we are kickoff the holiday celebrations. they bring out the animal window. we have ice skating. music is another great way to come and enjoy union scare. we are a recipient of the latest grant. this is bringing it into the public life. we are doing it here. this is in our park. it's really show this is great when it comes to music. >> we have been ignoring the

fact for the districts it's a pretty common place across the country and opportunity to transform our spaces. >> yeah, i agree with you 100%. >> we have 13,000 hotel rooms. what if we had a school or soccer this is something we couldn't do before. our rates prior to the pandemic was under10%. we are higher now. >> we have businesses like cable car a lot of history and innovation here as well. we want to be ready for the opportunities. this is where some office spaces will come. we are seeing office leases in

union square. the cable car comes through it. why not come to work in a vibrant space. >> a lot of the businesses have been remarkably resilient. can you share success stories and talk about how they have been supporting them. >> this aligned with what i just said about historic neighborhoods. they have seen everything from the great depression on. in fact, the earthquake of 1906. we have been around for hundreds of years. celebrating 116th birthday. open to the public in october. they are not gone. they are just down the street a beautiful store where people find great fabrics.

contemrare just here on powell street. a lot of the luxury retailers are expanding neighborhood print. >> we talk about the area with a rich history. what about the spaces and stronger sense of community. >> yeah, you know. i have to say these challenging times brought the community together. we had a unique opportunity here. was an opportunity to look at the district and assess where we might need something. we need a bit more of everything. we broke it down into different categories. we looked at economic development and change offering.

people were accessing, you know, nightlife, food, or shopping differently out of the pandemic. we wanted to look at marketing and what it meant to get the news out about what we were doing in the district. looking at our own organize as well and what we would need to get that out there. also creating a safe space. we are creating a safe and secure area. our locals in particular you can go shopping anywhere in the bay area. any of those places will look like any other place. in san francisco, you are somewhere special. this is a unique place and we needed to get it right. we have done that work and continue to support our district and see different

ways to do business here. to be creative and innovative. we were able to change the planning code to make it more flexible to do business here. we are the c3r. we have three floors of retail maybe today we don't want two levels maybe we just want one level instead of too much retail we need a school or something else. very exciting times and really interesting people and ideas. >> that's great. >> so, i guess, finally, what do you have for san francisco residents and businesses to be apart of this. >> this is the gateway of san francisco. it only drives. right now, we are so many and

still love our great city and what we would like to see. this is san francisco and the residents. look around, have a coffee. listen to music on the weekends. we have so much to offer union square. with that, support these businesses. we have a number of openings, a number of businesses betting on union square. in fact, we have a new hotel. the owner is from back of house, that's the name of the organize. they brought us several other residents and now this wonderful restaurant, i

italian restaurant. this is on top of the old restaurant. it will have a rooftop and one of the largest in san francisco. it's a london based business abdomen and betting on n square. we have a great bar scene popping up and speak easy and pch. hawthorne, school. this is the place to come down and enjoy. come, don't forget union square is the place to be. certainly in the years to come. a very difficult time of course for any major city. we are dealing with the same thing. explore and support our businesses here. we'll continue to thrive. come on down, you will be wildly, also surprised at how beautiful it is since we are still blooming. >> thank you, that's great. it's great to hear your optimistic outlook on

restoring this part of time. >> thank you for having me and taking a little time to showcase our heart of san francisco. >> thanks again. >> thank you. >> that's it for this episode. we'll be back with another one shortly. thank you for watching. okay. okay. >> actually if you could give me one moment. for tv i don't see a video feed on webex