Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240713

When you sadly were out on the streets and using drugs, and the stigma attached to that when youre trying to get clean and stay sober, and work, and turn your life around, the goodwill welcomes you with open arms. When you have a criminal past, and you want a Second Chance, and you dont want people to keep judging you because you made a mistake in the past, the goodwill welcomes you with open arms time and time again. So i just wanted to be here to express my true appreciation for the work that you have done and what you will continue to do and thats why we have to be a Good Community partner with you. The city has to be willing to make things easier for you to do the incredible work that you do to change and save lives. We know the challenges that exist around homelessness in the city and people struggling with Mental Illness and addiction and we are working on a number of Innovative Solutions to try and address what is a real crisis on our streets. But the good news is, the good news is when we are able to help somebody, we know that we can rely on the goodwill to be there for us and say yes each and every time. When i decided it was time to open a Job Training Center and the o. M. I. Community of San Francisco, because we saw that the unemployment numbers were higher there than most parts of this city, goodwill, again, was right there. We will be hosting a job fair in that location with you tomorrow. So time and time again we know that when we bring forth the kinds of ideas that really help people and open the doors, we know that good things can happen so i am just grateful for your work and your service and i wanted to do something really special. Clearly theres a lot of enthusiastic and excited people that are here today because this place is absolutely beautiful, and more importantly, the people who work here, the people who work for goodwill are absolutely beautiful because they love this organization and they love the work they have been able to do to really help so many people. So today, william and eric, i will ask you both to come up. Do you want to join us, supervisor, since you are here and i know you have your certificate . But mine first. [laughter] on behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, i would like to declare today goodwill in San Francisco day in that city and county of San Francisco. [cheers and applause] thank you. [applause] thank you. Thank you so much actually, mayor breed, we have something for you. So we have, as you know, our microsoft maker space. Do you have a coupon for me . [laughter] right . We have our microsoft maker his space and the joke was supposed to be that you can never be duplicated, but then we were able to duplicate you in our microsoft space. But then we decided not to. [laughter] we want to give you two things. The importance of the space is not only so we have all sorts of things in the space that folks can create things. Theyre learning about software and they are also able to do 3d printing. What we wanted to give you today is actually on the escher, we were able to at a photo of the mayor. [applause] we want to give you that and that is something. [laughter] do you know the first idea was . Somebody suggested we make in many all of you and we said, lets not do that. [laughter] than the other thing we want to give you, and this is actually something that was 3d printed, and this is a key to goodwill because we want you to know this is always your home. Thank you so much. [cheers and applause] thank you so much. Thank you. Now i would like to taken opportunity to introduce a supervisor for the district who has been a fierce advocate for goodwill. Im so happy we really admire your willingness to tackle the tough issues and we really look forward to working with you. Thank you so much. Roger stole all my material. I was going to tell that story. But it speaks volumes, not only about goodwill goodwill, but about will rogers and the way it will has gone about this truly is goodwill. And i say that because he doesnt just walk the walk, he actually talks the talk. When i say that, i say he talks to the community. So when i freaked out, when you were leaving bay street, i thought, oh, no, i will have to drive further. Remember, i used to be able to go by city hall, and of course, the city and county has been linked with goodwill for many years because of that. I found that that they were coming to the southern end of my district. So appropriately so, and then he asked how who do i reach out to . How do i become a part of the community and she said i dont want them in my neighborhood and i thought, well, thats exactly what the people bay street said when they moved there that has been the case here. I want to thank you for really walking the walk and reaching out to the community. We have more exciting things that are happening. You will see soon, the mayor announced the mayor will announce a new partnership between the city and county of San Francisco and goodwill just down the street that involves tidewater. [applause]. I would like to introduce another trailblazer. This is incredibly meaningful to me because this is someone who ive known for a long time over the last six years. He deserves he got a muchdeserved Second Chance here at goodwill and he has gone on to create incredibly meaningful Job Opportunities for himself after getting after coming here, he had some justice involvement, he came to goodwill and worked in retail, and everyone his things everyone doesnt want a real chip retail job, but we really try to think about what people want to do. We found that this young man had an aptitude for technology and so we put him into an Internship Program and technology. He did very well. We hired him into our program. He did exceptionally well and then at some point, he said, we said you have to go from a hobbyist to a professional. And what that means is you have to get your industry certifications. And he said, i cant do it. I did not do well in school, i have struggled on tests, et cetera et cetera, and that prompted us to create a training in growth mindset to help everybody who comes through because we know that a lot of folks who come through goodwill have been beaten down and we need to create opportunities, we need to make sure that folks have a level of confidence in their ability and in their innate abilities. So he is someone where is mr . There you are right there. Dumping nervous, chris. It is all good. [laughter] what we are doing is i typically do not like to celebrate people for the worst thing they have ever done in their lives, i like to celebrate people for their accomplishments. And today we are celebrating chris for his accomplishments. He actually came to us about six months ago. He worked for goodwill. Im sorry, he no longer works for goodwill and thats because about six month ago, he came to us and said, you know, i got another job. They will pay me x amount per year and blah blah blah. And i have to go. I two daughters and i said i got you. You have become way too valuable to us and with all your certifications, i remember when you got your certifications. You to me after you got your certifications. [laughter] and he wound up we wanted saying you were too valuable, we will beat the offer and we did. And then about three months later he came to us and he says, will, they are offering me another 25,000 a year and we said, chris, that is a great opportunity. [laughter] which is really the points. It is really helping people. Our values are learning, belonging, and safety. And chris was able to develop the skills, get some certifications, theres a point in which she would never have been hired anywhere else because people would have labelled him in a particular way, but he did this. So we are here to celebrate you. We have a Little Something for you. But before, i would like to introduce you so you can address everyone. [cheers and applause] good morning, everyone. My name is chris blaser. It feels good to be here home at goodwill. One month before i was supposed to graduate from high school i was arrested and i had squandered my opportunity to get my diploma, which set a negative trend that my life would follow for the next few years. All the way up until i was about 23, i was in and out of jail. At the time, my oldest daughter was three years old and i didnt have a legitimate means of supporting her. A friend suggested i go for the goodwill to look for a job and goodwill hired me and gave me my first real introduction into the workforce. Soon after i was hired, as will stated, they saw i had the aptitude for technology so they moved me into a paid intership with their i. T. Department. They recognize something in me that i hadnt even recognized in myself at that point, quite honestly. They put me in a position to have a career, but they did tell me i had to go from hobbyist to professional, which meant i had to go out and get my certifications, which i am now a plus security and network plus certified. [cheers and applause] i was nervous, but google reassured me they were fully invested in my growth professionally. Soon i had Work Experience and tech certifications including the goodwill google i. T. Certification which i got right before i left. [laughter] goodwill of the only place where i didnt have to choose between working and gaining tech skills. I was able to do both. Their constant reassurance that they would help me do my with through my barriers to appoint to employment made me feel safe here. The diversity of the workforce gave me a sense of belonging. I never felt judged when i passed. And because of their willingness to invest in my growth, i learned here, which are the three core values of goodwill. Safety first, belonging, and learning. Eventually came the day when a different employer was willing to offer me more money. They were definitely happy for me, but they definitely said, we do value you a lot so we want to beach that offer, which they did so i stayed. [laughter] but as they say, all good things must come to an end. [laughter] and eventually i was offered a second position and like you said, that sounds like an excellent opportunity. You might want to go pursue that so now i work as an engineer as a Tech Consulting firm. [cheers and applause] thank you. Thank you. Now i have two daughters and they have watched me grow pathetic professionally and our lives have gotten so much better because of my economic stability. Seven years ago i couldnt imagine anyone offering me the type of position that im being offered now, but today i expect to continue to get those offers. I want to thank goodwill for putting me in a position to chase this career and just like goodwill, i ask you to take a closer look at me and my true value. I am giving back to my community by remaining a leader and an inspiration, especially to those who also may need a Second Chance. Thank you. [cheers and applause] [laughter] chris has one request to get a photo with you. [laughter] thank you, thank you, thank you. Do you want me in this . Okay. Im really proud of you. Thank you. Congratulations. [laughter] so we just want to honor chris today with really dont know why im a little. Lumped right now. My nervousness has transferred. You know how i feel about you and im incredibly proud of you. Thank you. So you are getting the achievement of goodwills workforce warrior. [cheers and applause] and this is in honor of your demonstration of a successful and inspirational professional pathway within goodwill and beyond. Best wishes for your continued growth. We know theres so much more you will continue to accomplish. We also have gift for you, which i hope you and your family enjoy but you have done a tremendous job both for yourself, for the community, for your family. Im really proud of you. I know your daughters are really proud of you. They saw you go from not working , to working, and now you are in the field, my friend. Trying to thrive. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. [applause] [laughter] all right. I now have the honor of introducing two people in the same breath that you might not always thinking think of in talking about in the same breath these are two of the top competing Global Tech Industries just saying. [laughter] google and microsoft, who are coming together. Lets be clear, you compete, we were coming together to support people with barriers to employment. I will start by introducing katy brown. Katy . There you are. Come on up. Katy is the Vice President of Enterprise Sales of the west region at microsoft who is a lead sponsor of our good will microsoft space and with the grant that allows for learning possibilities beyond what residents have had in their past welcome. Thank you. [applause] so thank you so much. I have to tell you it is absolutely in honor to be here and be part of this project. I am deeply touched by what i have heard this morning and all that has been accomplished at the goodwill. Chris, i think we might be able to up that offer if you are interested. [cheers and applause] come talk to me. I am serious about that. [laughter] i have been a resident in San Francisco for 30 years and i have had the opportunity to work for three Companies Based here as well. I care deeply, very deeply about this city and this community. I cant even tell you have touched i am to see what is happening today with goodwill and all that you guys are doing. Very much appreciate it. We are thrilled to be part of this process and we have been a partner of goodwill for the last 14 years. Jason ford who is on my team is a member of the board and unfortunately couldnt be here today, but very much sends his well wishes. We have been able to donate not only in software grants and in training and education and curriculum, as well as the building out of the maker space, which was incredibly important to us because we feel as if we need to actually help the people that you are training here, to learn some of those advanced hightech degrees. There is advanced learning and innovation that you will see. I really encourage you to visit it. We are thrilled to be here. We appreciate the partnership and all that you do for this city and worldwide. Thank you. [applause] i now have the pleasure of introducing the Bay Area Giving Program manager from google. Google is supporting a future of work initiatives that funds digital training and Certification Programs in partnership with goodwill and you spend your career supporting social Impact Initiatives throughout the bay area. Welcome. Thanks. [applause] thank you so much. Before i get started, you also have to take my call, too. Make sure we connect. [laughter] that is right. Thank you for letting us join this beautiful space. Im really excited to be here. I lead bay area area giving. We really strive, specifically to introduce make sure people can work with the economy. Thank you for being our spokesperson. Goodwill is one of the most innovative ones in the country and very near and dear partner to google. Was this visit to San Francisco in our meeting with tanya which inspired us to do a 10 million nation will nationwide grant to goodwill across the country. Since we supported this initiative, the goodwill Digital Career accelerator has supported over 93 good wills across the country and has helped more than 250,000 people received training and Digital Skills that are required in a majority of jobs, much like the training that chris has received. We are proud of the fact that goodwill is part of this program and proud of the fact it was born here in the bay area in San Francisco, in our home base. In particular, we are proud of the i. T. Support professional certificate, the program that teaches anyone who requires skills for a role. Without the need for a bachelor s degree. Nineteen people have graduated from this Program Thanks to google and we have had the honor of meeting many of these graduates. You all have met chris here today. We appreciate we appreciate the work you are doing. We are looking forward to hearing more stories like this one in more story like chris and looking forward to hearing the impacts that this new Community Space will have on the acceleration of the Economic Opportunities of others. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you. Last but not least, we have i would like to invite mar and adam. They are both from phil tangs office and Kamala Harris office who would like to share a few words. [applause] thank you, will. I am with Assembly Member philip tang. Something cathartic about being here 30 years ago about this week, i bought my first halloween cost costume when i moved to San Francisco. I was younger, thinner, think judy garland, that was my goal at the time. That was about the timing met you, too, will. Phil couldnt be here today, but , you know, San Francisco, i thank you said we are a city for everyone that works for everyone , and where everyone can work. Theres something really powerful about that statement. The state legislature has worked very hard over the last nine years to reduce prison sentences , review prison sentences, to make sure that we have opportunities for californians and goodwill has been a leader in that to allow people, as mayor breed said, with criminal histories to be able to get jobs and we want to thank you. And for people with Mental Illness and Mental Health challenges, they say the best thing you can do for a person with a Mental Health issue is to get them a job. So we want to thank you, goodwill, for all you have done. Thank you, google, microsoft, all of the other partners who have supported goodwill. We can only turn around the challenges of our city with the work of everyone and this is just a great example. On behalf of the state assembly, i want to present you with this certificate congratulating the opening of this new facility. [applause] hello, i am with senator Kamala Harris office. She wanted to send a quick note over to you all in terms of congratulating you for this new space and taking an oath to break the cycles and iterations of poverty. She was most interested in your work on working with the Young Adult Court and making critical interventions with young people trying to change their lives. Goodwill is a longstanding champion a positive change for communities. Best wishes on the brand grand opening of the new headquarters. [applause] all right. That is our program today. I just want to say, everyone, thank you so much for coming. I want to thank all of the goodwill staff and what we will do is there will be tours over here. Theres lots of classroom stuff and theres also food. Please enjoy. Thank you all for coming very much. [applause] [ ] go ahead and cut it. [cheers and applause] welcome to the stage, father microcode father michael quinn. [applause] good afternoon distinguished guests, chief nicholson, chief scott, and all the wonderful people of San Francisco and the people from surrounding areas who are here on this wonderful day to ask gods blessing and to really recognize that we have indeed received gods blessing however, we name our god since a terrible day that we remember as the earthquake. On october 17th, 1989. For those of us who were around at that time, remember there was a moment when we didnt know what to do. The bridges were closed. It seems like we were really stuck. What happened is gods spirit within us took over and what happened is communities came together. The communities came together to not only address the immediate issues, but the more farreaching issues. Example, the San Francisco Interfaith Council was founded as a consequence. Can you imagine that week all of our faith decided we should Work Together as a community of San Francisco and Work Together. Thank you, god. You had to ring the bell a little loud, but we got it. Thank you for the First Responders, many of whom risked their lives. Thank you also for the individuals who are not First Responders, but who stepped out. They let god work in them. They have been blessed since this time since that time with the divine intervention of our god. Our god has given us Civic Leaders who make sure that our rooms are safe. We continue to ask for divine intervention of that god to give us leaders to provide for emergency services, to provide for the welfare and the wellbeing of the citizens and the guests of the city of San Francisco, and we thank god for their continued vigilance to be prepared for all those occasions may god keep us all safe and may the next 30 years be safer than it was 30 years ago on this date now i have the great privilege of introducing maryland and breed. [applause] thank you, father quinn. Thank you so much to everyone who is joining us here today to celebrate how far weve come over the past 30 years, and i remember that day. I was actually a freshman in High School Attending Galileo High School right here in this neighborhood, and it almost feels like it was yesterday. We know that 30 years ago the loma earthquake struck suddenly, and even though it only lasted for 15 seconds, its impact was tremendous. 12,000 homes damaged, millions of dollars in Property Damage all over the bay area, and sadly , 67 lives were lost before their time. Weve come a long way and we know that there have been significant changes in San Francisco. We all remember the embarcadero freeway. It is no longer there. Pays valley and the central freeway, and we have some hayes valley folks here with us today, it is now this beautiful, vibrant open space. Buildings in the civic centre that have been rehabbed to seismic standards, and of course, so many people who live in the marina. You remember the devastation that existed here which is why it was so important that this city implements soft story legislation to ensure that when the next earthquake hits our safety, we are more resilience. We are more prepared than we were, then. We all know that we cant prevent an earthquake from happening, but in this city, we have taken the Lessons Learned from what we know happened. That was a time where technology was a lot different. We didnt have many cell phones and smart phones and other communication devices. In fact, those of you who were there probably remember when it happened. I ran upside. I was on webster street between fulton and mcallister at a friends house. I felt the ground shake. It had turned upside down. We immediately ran outside and were like, what happened, what happened . We didnt understand what was going on. We heard the bay bridge collapsed, we heard this was going on. There was so much information. We did not have access to electricity. We relied on radios and relied on communication from others. More importantly, we were safe because we knew that so many of our First Responders from the police department, from the Fire Department were out there in the communities checking and making sure that our communities were safe so we are so grateful so we continue to be there for us time and time again. We want to spend out sent send out a special announcement a special shout out to the volunteers. We know when disaster strikes that our Public Safety officials may not be able to get everyone right away, so we are going to need to look out for one another over the years, we have really worked hard to build more resilient communities. Communities where neighbors know what to do, where they look out for one another so that we are the First Responders when our fellow neighbor needs us during these times so that we can continue to keep one another safe and provide support during what we know could be a problematic time in our city. We have come a long way and we are Still Standing stronger and more amazing than ever. San francisco, as we know, even with his challenges, is still one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We will continue to make sure that we make good policy decisions, good investments, and continue to work with all Community Members throughout San Francisco to make sure we are all safe. Today we remember that we have come further in the past 30 years in being a more resilience , a more seismically safe, a better city so that when the next one happens, we are prepared. I want to thank all of you for being here today to really mark this occasion. I also want to take the opportunity to suggest that you think about your Emergency Preparedness kit. You have to access the wreck of the recommendations on the website for things you can use and one of those kids that would last for 72 hours. I was with some kits kids today at Rosa Parks Middle School and they were telling me what i needed to put in my kit. I thought wow, we are preparing the next generation and they are now going to be the ambassadors for their families and for their communities so that we can all look out for one another and to make sure that people are safe and that our city is better and stronger than ever. Thank you all again so much for being here to celebrate. [applause] good afternoon, everybody. Im catherine stefani. Im the supervisor for district two. It is such an honor and a privilege to serve district two. Thank you all for being here today. Thank you mayor breed for your remarks. Obviously we are here today to commemorate 30 years of the loma earthquake, witching just 15 seconds rocked our community. I cant believe it was only 15 seconds because what 170 one summer he asked me the other day how long i thought it was, i said, at least a minute. When someone told me it was just 15 seconds, it truly was the longest 15 seconds of my life. We know that it took the lives of 67 neighbors and cost caused over 5 billion in damage. It is, of course, fitting that we are here in the marina, a neighborhood which suffered some of the most extensive damage. The headline of the examiner, in fact, the following day red, s. F. Marina devastated. In this neighborhood, gas mains and pipes burst sparking fires, causing buildings to collapse, and killing four people. I was actually a junior in college. I was in my dorm room at st. Marys college just across the bay bridge when the earthquake struck and my friends and i, you know, we heard about what to do in an earthquake and, of course, when it hits, all of a sudden all of that goes out the window. What we did is what you are not supposed to do, we started running. We ran outside to find a chaotic scene. All of the windows in our library had been blown out, people were panicking, and i was personally touched because my roommate at the time had her little brother here in San Francisco who was recovering from leukemia. It was one of the hospitals here in San Francisco, and we did not know whether or not the hospital was okay, whether or not he was okay, and of course, we were hearing things like that bay bridge collapsed, and based on how bad that earthquake felt, we pictured the entire bay bridge in the bay because it felt like that actually could have happened. And what we learned from this experience is the importance of having a plan in place and be prepared ahead of time. We know that every household should have an earthquake safety kit and a plan for what to do in the event of an earthquake. Having these important conversations now will make a safer in the event of another big one. Just this monday, we had a small earthquake of 4. 7. A reminder we must always be prepared and a reminder we must talk about this with our children. My daughter who is 10 years old had just fallen asleep in bed next to me and was jolted awake, sending her sharp elbowed directly into my jaw and making me perhaps the only injury of the earthquake that night, but really, that was my daughters first time experiencing an earthquake and it was truly scary for her. She had a lot of questions about what would happen if the earthquake had been bigger and she was so on edge that she really couldnt go back to sleep i told her, you know, we turned that nervousness into awareness. We become aware of what we can be doing and then we turn that awareness into preparedness. We are having important conversations about what to do in case of an earthquake, what our family disaster plan is, and where we keep our emergency supplies. I hope that today, on this 30 Year Anniversary of the loma earthquake, families across the city are having similar conversations about how to be prepared. We do not know, of course, when the next big one will strike, but we must do everything we can is a city to make sure our residents and businesses are as prepared as possible. Im proud to have cosponsored the earthquake safety and Emergency Response bond that will be on the ballot in march and if passed, will provide over 600 million in muchneeded funding for Capital Improvements to critical infrastructure, including neighborhood fire stations, District Police stations, the emergency firefighter water system, and other essential facilities and infrastructure. Im also excited to announce today my resilient district two program which started here with the resource fares this afternoon. I will be working with neighborhood leaders and i want to thank neighborhood leaders. So many are out here. Without you, we wouldnt be able to do what we do. Thank you so much for how you do this. Im looking at you gail and patricia and jim and so many other people. Jason, allen, cat, the earth his only people in this neighborhood that rise to the occasion and really help us do what we need to do to be prepared. I want to thank everyone who has joined us today. I look forward to continuing our work to be prepared for the next earthquake, and i want to thank our First Responders. I have so much respect for all of you. All of our police officers, all of our firefighters. What would we do without you . You are amazing. Especially here in San Francisco [applause] with that, i would like to call up San Francisco battalion chief [applause] it is dangerous to give me an open mic. I have limited time. I am a talker. It is an honor to be here today. Thirty years ago the deputy chief and myself were pro bees, we didnt even earn that status. We were in a fire academy and at 504 we were being dismissed. And in the yard, he always had to run in the yard unless you are doing a training thing. We were all running towards that sevenstory at the time and it was a brick building. I saw it go back and forth swaying and swaying. And then all of a sudden you started swaying and the captain told us to hit the ground, cover your head, and we didnt even know what hit us and then we realized. It was going on for a long time. It really was. I mean, it was my anniversary, my 30 Year Anniversary, but we had been doing this for years. No matter where we are, no matter what fatality, what country, we are there for every disaster. It was amazing. Later on i went home quickly, checked on my dog who was hiding , he never did that. I made sure she was all right, went back to station seven and i said, i am a pro be, can i answer phones . Answer phones, get on the rig i got on the rig. I didnt even have a coat, i just put on some oldtimers turn out. We went to south of market. The entire south of market had their horrible collapse on the street. The entire south of market smells like natural gas and it was really an eerie feeling. Then we swooped into the marina where i was dropped off and we have a very special guest a little later that will tell us his story, but i was dropped off after at the marina. Basically what i did was help expand the auxiliary portable hydrant system that you see right here. When it opened the hydrant in the marina, which was a disaster area, it was several square blocks of houses leaning, garages buckling, and then the dramatic threestory building that ended up in the intersection with where the big rescue was. When he opened up the hydrant it just dripped out. One of our chiefs at the time invented this system. We have had the auxiliary system since 1915, but he invented the portable hydrant system. That beautiful fireboat out there was an older one and pumped from the bay into a manifold and we were able to create a hydrant system to put the fire out. Basically i just moved hose and that is what i did, but hopefully he will come up at some point, but he did a terrific rescue while i was moving hose. He was crawling in 35 feet into a dilapidated building, barely shoulder space with a chainsaw. Meanwhile, aftershocks were going on. It smelled of natural gas. He hears a woman calling, yelling for help, he is making his way cutting piece by piece trying to shore up for his own safety, getting in there. He gets close to her, and then finally, i think it was the blade that winter he had to get something, a new chainsaw, he was so scared he would leave and not come back and he promised her. That is promised that he kept in that is a promise we keep to you when we swear in. We will be there and he showed that hand raise and he got back and there, cut more away and got her out. He saved her life. He has done so many awards for that, so many accolades, but the truth of the matter is, it is a twoway street with the community and us. She saved his life. She taught him about better things. How to live better, how to live more sound, and a more peaceful. They became friends for the rest of her life. He will carry that in his heart. Anyway. Im just going to get a little corny for a minute. My dads not alive anymore, but he was so proud that his daughter went to that fire, because that was my first fire, and somehow i ended up in Sports Illustrated. [laughter] you know, this is an old because theres a marlboro ad at the back of it. [laughter] all right. I am a ham, but who knew i was going to be in Sports Illustrated . [cheering] okay, okay. All right. The next day we went down there and worked on the marina, my dad walks into time warner building in manhattan, because he was mre said, thats my daughter, thats my daughter, and they said, yeah , whatever. He said let me get my boss down. Some some boss comes down and says come back in a week and they blew up a big poster of that picture. Anyway, dad, we did it together. He was the one that called and told me the bay bridge collapsed we had a power failing. None of us headphones. He called on a land line. Remember that . Landlines. Who has a land line here . Excellent. Thats pretty good. But on a more serious and, enough with this. I know that our whole careers we have been training and trying to improve. And i know chief nicholson, that is one of her big agendas, is improve the disaster plan. It really is the birth of the organization because it was amazing to see civilians and fire and anybody moving hose to get that system up and running because the marina was so full of natural gas and we had already had an explosion. It was really incredible. I love working with them in training with them and practising. We are here for you. We always will be and we love San Francisco. We are going to pay tribute to the seriousness of what happens that day, but we are also celebrating an earthquake. It is just amazing what San Francisco does. We come out for everything. Anyway, we love you, and when we raise our hands, we really mean it. It is a twoway street. I will introduce jim at maxwell. You have a few things to say. [applause] good afternoon. I just wanted to really briefly thank the mayor and supervisor stefani for putting this event on. Its so important that we continue to remember that 30 years ago, this city and our neighborhood were rocked. We were in shock, but it really galvanized us as a community to come together. As we have heard, the organization was born out of this event and that people came together and Work Together sidebyside with fire to help put out the fires, and we are really pleased that we are starting our resiliency d2 efforts because its that tenacity and the resiliency that will make us strong and be able to bounce back the next time we have to face such an event. I also want to say its important that as communities who come together and we all know each other. These events are great. We need to have more Community Events were you get to know your neighbors and make an effort to say hello to a friend, make an effort to get to know your local merchants as well. The merchant corridors a need to be resilient. They are the ones that will be providing for us in the next big event, and i think everyone remembers how they didnt have power or anything else, either, but a lot of them banded together and somehow provided food, they provided water, they provided a place for us to gather, and we need to remember that Going Forward as we move forward. We have been working on a little neighborhood actually, it wont be in the neighborhood now , but a memorial to the earthquake. That is close to happening. That has been 15 years of grassroots effort. [applause] a number of folks have been involved in putting that together. That finally will happen down at twentytwo at station 35, which is appropriate since it is also to honor the fireboat phoenix i was instrumental in putting out the fires here. As we were putting that together , and artists were talking to neighbors, one of the things that came out of a few Community Meetings that i remember very specifically was, everybodys remembrance of that there was the earthquake, there was the event, and after that there was immediate silence that descended on the city, on the neighborhood, as everyone took stock of their surroundings and what was going on. He was at that point that a lot of neighbors wandered out of their homes, looked to their other neighbors they possibly hadnt even met before, and said , hey, how are you . How are you doing . As everybody okay . That connection was made. We need to keep those connections strong so we can be resilient for our next event. Thank you, mayor. [applause] okay. Our plan was to have enough speeches until we could get to the right time, but clearly we didnt have a lot of politicians speaking today. [laughter] so we will have a fireboat display from the San Francisco Fire Department. There we go. Look to your right, you can see it. Some of us also remember that there was a World Series Game going on between the giants and the as. [indiscernible] come on up, chief. Good afternoon, everyone. I am the chief of the San Francisco Fire Department. [cheers and applause] thank you very much. When battalion chief anita proudly was speaking, she was speaking about our retired firefighter named jury shannon. Many of you have probably seen him in the newspaper of late. He saved a woman named shara, here in the marina and thankfully he has showed up today and welcome. We all look up to you. [applause] thanks. Do you want to say a couple of words . Yes. Im flattered by all of what has gone on since the earthquake and immediately after. I want to take this chance to talk about something that i beg these reporters to pass on, and they would promise me they would and it never happened. I didnt do this rescue. The Fire Department did this rescue and the people out there in the rescue squads, i was a mediocre fireman. These guys were trained way above my pay grade. And what they do on a daily basis, we are in insurance policy for the citizens of San Francisco. It is no big thing when you wreck your car and the Insurance Company comes and takes care of it, but when the fire Part Department does it, for some reason, the bonds that we had since 1900 and sex with the citizens of San Francisco, they feel about us as we feel about them. It is not just a job, and the dedication you realize, 264 guys, people, drove back into the city immediately after the earthquake. They werent on duty and they werent getting paid. What other department in San Francisco can say that . These guys came in, left their families, didnt know what they were going into, would you never do when you respond to an incident. They came back into the city and they worked for 72 hours and they didnt get any accolades, they didnt get any newspaper print. They did it because of the love of the city and the love of the job. I was so proud when they pinned that badge on me in 1970. I wanted to honor it and do something to think that i deserved it. I still, when i see these rubber rings, i still get that same feeling in my heart. Thank you. [applause] thank you. As you can see, the fireboat display to your right. [cheering] that is not the phoenix, that is the other one, right . That is the st. Francis. Named for our great city. I want to ask chief nicholson and chiefs got to join me up on the stage. Supervisor stefani. Are you going to ring the bell . Yeah, we are. A few more minutes. Come on up. Come on up. [applause] you have three minutes. [laughter] just say a few words about the system you invented. It is an honor to be here today and 30 years. Its hard to believe it goes by so fast. I wanted to echo what you said about the Fire Department. And wanted to point out that what happened in 89 we understand the risk of the Fire Department and the support on the developments that we get. We had mayor dianne feinstein. And had a meeting with her and explained to her what the risks were and the equipment that we needed for the portable water system. Mayor feinstein totally understood. It was a classic meeting. We went in, we were told we had 20 minutes, three hours later, we left her office. We had a 50 billiondollar bond issue and a special appropriation for the water system and they were just going to work. We did that and i just want to point out to the dedication of the firemen, that is amazing. It is hard work. We developed the portable possible the portable water system and worked with the fireboat. A lot of training. 189 came, we were ready. We had a plan. I like to point out to you what happens in an earthquake like what happened in 189. We lost all the power in city in the city for three full days. The earthquake hit. It messed all over the city. Just in the marina alone we had 127 water main breaks. We lost all water in the marina. Fire breaks out and we say that when all hell breaks loose, nobody else knows what to do so they call the Fire Department. But an earthquake is the extreme example of that. We have to perform. And what happened, all the water is gone, and only because Goodyear Blimp was in town because of the world series. The Fire Department only knew they had a fire because of several fire alarms. The chief down there was a hairy he had had a drill with the portable water system one week before. He knew exactly what to do. Call the fireboat and the portable water system, and they got there 40 minutes later. We had to this wind today that we had then. We would have stopped the fire. This is an example of what would happen. In that day, there was no wind. It was a good