hostility and that is how we change the okay, we're going tot started. >> mm hmm. good morning, everyone. i'm scott weiner of the honor of representing san francisco and northern san mateo county and the california state senate. and today we are announcing new legislation senate bill 395 to give san francisco an

additional tool specifically low cost liquor licenses to reinvigorate and revitalize downtown san francisco. first i want to start by congratulating mayor laurie on a very, very successful weekend here in san francisco and i was exhausted looking at his social media as he was doing between the all-star game and what i think for my recollection is the largest crowd for the chinese new year parade i've ever seen in san francisco is back and is getting stronger and stronger by the day. so thank you, mr. mayor, for your leadership. so we need to continue to build on the progress that we are making and we know that downtown financial district union square south of market yerba buena it is absolutely essential for san francisco's recovery for our economic vitality and for our city's

future and not just for san francisco for the whole bay area. we know there have been huge challenges with remote work and all of the hangover coming out of the pandemic and as years of crime and public drug use that we're working so hard to try to address. and we know that we need to reimagine downtown for the future and have more diversity so it's not just the office but more and more housing and retail and nightlife and food and drink other kinds of recreation entertainment and nightlife is a key part of that strategy. we know we see that when you give people a reason to be downtown, they go downtown. we've seen it with some of the street festivals. the first thursdays are bhangra beats or the chinatown night market. people will come.

and so we need to keep building reasons to be downtown not just at night but to come into the office because there's more to do and there's more vibrancy. we've been working hard. i want to just really thank my colleague assemblymember matt haney who has also he has a select committee on downtowns and he's done a tour of the state because there's a lot of commonality. so thank you assembly member for your leadership. we also were able to pass the entertainment zone legislation that has allowed on front street and other at the warriors arena and other parts of the city to allow outdoor drink and allowing the local bars and restaurants to sell onto the streets. and we want to continue to build on that success too that the state of california is being a good partner to san francisco and other cities in this recovery. we know that when people are trying to open up new bars or

restaurants it is extremely expensive and one of the most significant costs is is obtaining a liquor license. it can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and we know that and i won't get started on my critiques of california's restrictive liquor laws which hamstring cities in many ways and assemblymember hayne and i constantly work to deconstruct that and give cities more flexibility without micro-management from the state . and that's what we're doing here today. so sb 395 will create 20 new low cost liquor licenses for a hospitality zone defined by the city. and it will just allow some of these businesses to get going in a much more affordable way. and so with that, i want to turn it over to our sponsor of this legislation, mayor lurie. >> and you guys.

>> good morning, everybody. >> thank you. senator wiener. well, it's great to be back in union square again after we welcomed hundreds of thousands of people over the last few days. >> i appreciate the shout out to me but it took everybody behind us all of our departments muni sfp, pd, fire sheriffs, all of our departments, parks and rec everybody came together to pull off an incredible weekend for so long. this area has been a a hub for tourism shopping and dining. and last weekend people came from across the bay area and the country and frankly the world to take part in the lunar new year parade and all star weekend.

and i was here throughout the weekend and every time i visited the streets were packed and teeming with people. people were enjoying the shops, eating at restaurants and even playing basketball on a court right here to get our economy going again. all of downtown needs to be at full strength. and this weekend was a great way to get people here. now today we are taking the next step with permanent solutions for this neighborhood by adding 20 new liquor licenses. this legislation will bring new restaurants and bars, new people and energy. downtown san francisco is known for our world class food and culture. and last week we were named the culinary capital of the united states. >> we should be making it easier not harder for businesses to set up here.

right now state law limits our number of liquor licenses and they are expensive and hard to get to. this high barrier sends in and sends the wrong message to businesses that want to come here. well, the message from r administration is san francisco is open for business. that's the message we are sending with this bill. and that's the message our administration is sending consistently. listen to what we did just last week. we launched permit s.f. which will streamline the city's permitting process and help new small businesses open faster. we signed the fentanyl state of emergency ordinance, announced plans and announced plans for a 24 seven police friendly stabilization center so people can get medical treatment and police officers on patrol right here can get back on the street faster. and the board of supervisors land use and transportation

committee passed our bill with supervisor dorsey and supervisor souder to make it easier to turn empty offices into homes. that was just last week the week before that we launched the speedy hospitality zone task force task force with dedicated resources to increase the police presence not only around union square but also around mosconi center and yerba buena center. this bill will allow us to do even more for that hospitality zone bringing more restaurants and bars to our shopping areas and union square and yerba buena gardens. and we will continue to take bold steps to revitalize downtown. this work is urgent. and that's the energy our administration is bringing every single day every day. i'm working with senator weiner, our partners in government and our friends downtown to bring people back to our city. if you're a business owner this

is your moment to invest. if you've stayed away, come back and experience everything our city has to offer. and if you haven't heard san francisco is on the rise. so let's get on board and let's go san francisco. >> sorry. thank you, mr. mayor. next i want to bring up one of our unsung heroes who's had the ms.. mr. rodriguez who the ceo of the union square alliance and who has it's been a rough few years for union square, but i'm optimistic about this neighborhood's future and i just want to thank marissa so much for your incredible work and perseverance. >> so mr. rodriguez. >> all right. union square, how are we feeling? i want to hear you. we just came off of an

incredible weekend. that's what san francisco is about and that's what union square is about. the billboards are still up and what do they say? we don't play. >> we don't play san francisco. i'm so excited about this great opportunity that we are talking about today. why? because san francisco's lifeblood is right here where you are standing. >> the hospitality zone is where we put our best foot forward. it's where we greet our guests, where we welcome visitors not only locally our san franciscans, our bay area residents, our northern californians but internationally all over the world and nationally. this is us. this is what we represent. we can't move. the convention center west of twin peaks we can't move union square in 12,000 hotel rooms anywhere else. it is here and we have to continue to invest. when people come to visit us for two days, three days a convention just coming into town because they've heard so

many wonderful things about our world class city, we want to put our best foot forward and guess what? that is? that is our food and beverage. that is our nightlife. that is the essence that makes san francisco so unique. that is our people. that is our culture. that is our innovation. and if we can't put that front and center right here in 27, 30, 40 city blocks, we are failing and we aren't failing anymore. a light switch went off. the energy is alive. this weekend showed us that our city is all about it. it was in credible and it's going to stay that way. i'm excited for what this means when union square and yerba buena thrive. our entire city does our neighborhoods thrive and we are modeling this opportunity after a successful opportunity in our neighborhoods. let's continue to do that great work. i want to think oh i see them. >> i know they're in it with us. our state partners looks like the irs is behind me.

>> that's because we mean business. we are serious. look at these guys. they're showing up. our mayor daniel, he doesn't play. we don't play. this is real. >> this is serious. this is our city's ability to continue to thrive on the line and we're going to continue to do the work. we're going to continue to make this happen. we love san francisco. we're so happy to be here and thank you so much for all you do to support us. >> and next when i ask up my legislative partner in this effort. assembly member matt haney. >> good morning everyone. don't worry i'm not the tax collector. you know we're world class cities have world class nightlife. and in order for our city to thrive, we need world class nightlife. if you look around what's happening all over the world as cities have come back from the pandemic, they've done it with thriving restaurants, bars and people places for people to come out and enjoy themselves

with each other, period. and what we're seeing in california in particular is the cities that have really invested and supported their nightlife have been the fastest to recover across the state. >> why is that? it's because people now in many cases have a choice of where they go and how they spend their time. we can't just rely on people coming in to our city during the day for jobs at their desk . now many of those folks have a choice of whether they come in at all or whether they work remote people who have choices of places to visit, how they spend their time and when they have places to go out in the evening that are enjoyable where they can build community ,where they can experience arts and culture that's where they want to be not just at nighttime, not just in the evening but they also want to be there during the day. and what we're seeing in our downtowns including in this downtown is we're not just in eight hour downtown anymore. cities that are thriving are 24

hours. they're looking at what's happening during the weekends or looking in the evening and nighttime. and so i want to thank senator weiner for his leadership in understanding that and taking us there with entertainment zones and all of the partners who've come together to ensure that we are making it easier for nightlife can thrive to thrive not harder. our mayor said it our city's coming back. we showed it this weekend. we have to be able to embrace the role that nightlife plays because when nightlife is thriving our businesses do better. more people come and visit. our entire city benefits from it as well. thank you, senator weiner, for your leadership and all of the partners who are here. we are going to get this done and make it easier to make things happen in san francisco. thank you, senator weiner, for your leadership. i'm next.

in addition, it's not just about union square. it also goes south of mark. and i want to next call up jill jo lynnwood, director of external affairs at the yerba buena partnership. >> you know, thank you. thank you, senator weiner. mayor lurie assembly member me and marissa. so fun to work with. >> our organization comes from the other side of market street from yorba buena which is the city's arts cultural and convention district. as you may know, we have 11 hotels. >> and this weekend at nba all-star we were so delighted that we understand nearly every one of those 11 hotels was at capacity. all of our restaurants and bars were sold out. the dawn club, the lark bar, the restaurants within the w hotel, the marriott, the palace everything was booked solid.

and our museums and our galleries were absolutely full . >> the diversity certification that this that this piece of legislation is putting forward to give businesses an opportunity to open that might not otherwise well help us give give businesses another reason to choose to have conventions at moscone center and to choose to visit our museums and galleries and visit our restaurants and bars. our ambassadors work seven days a week all year round to ensure that our neighborhood and union square alliance that the ambassadors in this neighborhood ensure that our downtown is clean and safe and welcoming. so as yerba buena and all of downtown's strong arts, cultural and entertainment community communities are driving our comeback, we are so

supportive of this legislation as another signal that san francisco wants your businesses here and is where your business will thrive. >> and then our final two speakers i want to welcome up the supervisor for this district supervisor danny sauder who will be followed by ben lyman, a member of the san francisco entertainment commission. >> thank you, senator wiener. good morning, everyone. i'm danny sartor, the district three supervisor having the honor to represent union square in our incredible northeastern neighborhoods. and i'm really proud to support this effort. i see it as the next step in the puzzle, the next piece of the puzzle to bring union square back. and on my way over here today saw many of those pieces in action. you know, we have our ambassadors who are working to keep this neighborhood friendly and safe. we have our sfp ready here with a concentration in the new hospitality zone.

we have i was told about the toddler time here in the corner the 200 days of programing that are now in union square bringing people back into this square and giving people more reasons to come here. and i think that is certainly the theme that we've seen in this past weekend. we saw it in winter walk. we saw it on display. when people have a reason to come to union square they love it, they enjoy it. they will come here and that's what this legislation unlocks. you know, we i was researching the legislation and i think it's interesting that it's tied to residents. of course we want to work to bring more residents downtown living downtown we've taken action at the board of supervisors to make that possible. but in the meantime we know that this neighborhood is changing. the office use is changing, the retail use is changing and there's nothing more san francisco than more restaurants, more bars, more nightlife. you know, imagine what this legislation can unlock.

you can take the cable car down to union square and maybe enjoy a mai tai or an irish coffee or hopefully soon soon again in anchor steam. so those are, you know, the pieces as the cable car goes behind us. those are the the the opportunities and the promise that this legislation unlocks. so it's for me it's a no brainer i think for san francisco it's a no brainer for us to support this legislation and for this neighborhood to thrive with this legislation. >> thank you. >> the closer everyone. i'm a big fan of this legislation and you can tell because i wore my most formal puff and sweatshirt today. >> i'm a bar owner and i also have organized many of the bar owners in town into a group. we have about 538 of us and when we talk about downtown we talk about it being almost like the circulator tree system for the whole city. it brings a ton of economic activity tax dollars that get spread out around the city and also a vibe it brings energy,

it brings people it brings all sorts of intangible things that then go out into the greater city and fill us up. if downtown is the circulatory system, union square is the heart. so without union square as union square goes, the entire system kind of depends on it and that's why it's so important to put resources and effort and thought into into this. >> i believe a few things. so one thing is that our downtown is going through a reckoning and we have to bring it back and in order to do so we have to re-envision it. it cannot just be a place where people go to work. i also believe that nightlife entertainment, performance art they're not going to be a crucial part of the of the re-envisioning of downtown. they'll actually be the main driving force for it because without them people simply aren't going to want to visit downtown. and we're talking about people who maybe are deciding whether or not to work from home on a friday. right. talking about visitors from overseas or other cities who would come to union square and shop and enjoy themselves are going to town and we're especially talking about people from there. even san francisco in the

greater bay area who maybe never envisioned downtown as a place that they can go for nightlife. we're going through that reckoning now. a lot of our downtowns went through it in america over the last 2030 years. now it's our turn. entertainment is going to push that. i'm really excited about this legislation. it sends a message that union square and soma are back open and specifically for me a lot of our best nightlife and a lot of our best restaurants and hospitality and clubs they actually don't start downtown or soma. they start in the outer neighborhoods. they start all over the city. but a lot of those operators have felt kind of priced out from downtown just it's really hard for them to get a foothold here and i expect that many people who are kind of thriving in other areas of the city will take a look at this and say now is my chance to move down here. and as far as i'm concerned that's exactly what we need. so i want to thank senator wiener. i want to thank mayor lurie for putting this together and the whole team i know there was a ton of effort put into it. i think it's a step in the right direction and let's go. >> thank you. thank you. that's that wraps it for us.

>> we're happy to take some questions. i don't hurt any barrier. reporter i wanted to ask the mayor. yeah, we're going to work with raphael management board president on that. it's in the early stages but i'm very supportive and look forward to working with him on it. what kind of about what that'll be up to the city will structure how it works yeah well they will go from there that's what they do. a lot of people work for jobs are good work. i want the boundaries be drawn. the city will draw the boundaries and i don't want to

speak for mayor. i know there's been talk about, you know, union square. >> yeah. you ever going? i don't know if you want i mean we just looking at the hospitality zone so union square yerba buena center mosconi center really looking at it as a cohesive group. so that's that's the game plan but we'll work with our legislative partners on the board of supervisors as well. any other questions? okay. yeah, i love this. is there. so you know, i don't know if is really whether it's like marketing later in time your quote. yeah i mean we're we're actually working now to make sure that our public transit systems are still functioning and not collapsing. so muni bar and you know always any opportunity to say this that the public needs to understand if we have inertia

and nothing happens muni bar, ac transit caltrain will all have to enact huge service cuts and we we have to stop prevent that from happening and we will and that's why we're working in the state budget to try to support these systems and also to try to authorize a regional funding measure. other states fund public transportation at a much higher level than california does and so we need to play some catch up. and so we need to shore up these systems and yes, i would love for them to go later. but job one is making sure that we assure them up and other questions. great. thank you so much everyone. >> thank you for thinkingsense.

>> my name is kelly ma cord i'm the owner and manager with my husband tom of mission brooks. >> blue we're neighbors first when we first came in into the neighborhood got involved and an opportunity to get plugged into the merchants cord we see mission blue come together

around the pastry. so when we looked at the neighborhood we say the garden here with the greenway and so many butterflies what is the the butler friday of this area and said mission blue we're going to call this because i was in a - and because of neighborhood was so beautiful we wanted to be part of this coming along with the neighborhood and valve that. >> one of the great, great secretaries of valley we're aware of the crosstown trail for those of you who don't know it is 17 mile trail and it cuts introduce not only our cord but the greenway and the telling her there are 6 gardens were built by the neighborhood for the neighborhood and been here over 2 decades an incredible place.

the rolling arrived in a truck every saturday morning in the plaza. and they take that is assessable to every one of our neighborhoods we have a full neighborhood in case no. 6934 greenway for fruits and vegetables we love to ask missions to come it is like a eco system over there on saturday morning one of our goals. >> your greatest reward in the community it included within our retail so those one hundred and 10 artist for the thing i'm passionate about is the future from loco loco deep-rooted friends.

>> who doesn't love cable cars? charging emissions and we're free which we're proud of you know, it's not much free left in the world anymore so we managed to do that through donations and through our gift shops. you got a real look and real appreciation of what early transit systems are like. this was the transit of the day from about 1875 to about 1893 or later, you know. cable car museum is free, come on in. take a day. come down. rediscover the city. you can spend as time you want and you don't have to make reservations and it's important to be free because we want them to develop a love for cable cars so they do continue to support whether they live here or other places and people come in and say, yes, i have passed by and heard of this and never come in and they

always enjoy themselves. people love cable cars and there's none left in the world so if you want to ride a cable car, you've got to come to san francisco. that what makes the city. without the cable cars, you lose part of that, you know, because people who come here and they love it and they love the history ask they can ride a cable car that has been running since 1888 or 1889. wow! that's something. can't do that with other historical museums. rarely, have i run into anybody from outside who didn't come in and didn't feel better from knowing something about the city. it's a true experience you'll remember. i hope they walk away with a greater appreciation for the history, with the mechanics with people are fascinated by the winding machine and i hope the appreciation, which is a part of our mission and these young kids will appreciate cable cars and the ones who live here and other places, they can make sure there will always be cable cars in san

francisco because once they are gone, they are gone. it's the heartbeat of san francisco that founded the cable and the slot and without the cable cars, yeah, we would lose something in san francisco. we would lose part of its heart and soul. it wouldn't be san francisco without cable cars. [bell ringing] . good afternoon and welcome to the february 11th, 2025 regular meeting of the san francisco board of supervisors. madam clerk, will you please call the roll? >> thank you, mr. president. supervisor chen chan present supervisor chen chen prese