Transcripts For SFGTV Latino 20240703

Good evening. Good evening and blessings to all my relatives. My name is Mary Travis Allen and im the advisor board president for the American Indian cultural district, as well as a member of Mission Destino and other committees and councils here in San Francisco. So i am ariana ortega, peace people of nicaragua. From my mothers side and the seneca nation on my fathers side. I was born and raised here in San Francisco and retired in 2020 from a senior manager position with the sfmta to after 32 years of service. But as i mentioned and what im doing now is important work that i am many of you are doing on behalf of our community is that work is never done and should be reflected in all the work you do and all aspects of your lives. We are brought together by our ancestors is to fulfill the prophecy of the eagle and the condor. The prophecy tells of this time when the Indigenous Peoples of the north and the south earth would reunite to renew you and protect our original knowledge, strength and connection to our earth. Mother this is a time of reconciliation. Mission. Reunion education and healing of all the land and all its peoples. In case you dont know the eagles and the California Condors have begun to nest here in the bay area for the they know its time. Im honored to be with you here tonight to celebrate the 2023 latino heritage Month Celebration and Award Ceremony and present the land acknowledgment on your behalf. To the Ramaytush Ohlone people. We that are gathered here acknowledge that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush Ohlone, who are the original inhabitants of yelamu, which is now called San Francisco. The ramaytush shiloni are the stewards of yelamu, and in keeping with their tradition as they have never ceded lust or forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place , as well as for us and all peoples who reside or work in their traditional territory. We wish to honor and pay our respects by acknowledging the ancestors, owners, elders and relatives of the ramaytush community and by affirming their sovereign rights as the first peoples of this land. We are all guests and as such we are to recognize that as visitors, we benefit from living and working on their ancestral homeland. We are reminded that we do not own this land and that our ancestors did not create Land Ownership or borders to separate our people on the land. The land is our mother and we are all relatives as we are to be grateful, all respect and coexist with all the creator has provided for us. Creator we ask for your blessings for all gathered here and all those that we carry in our hearts. We acknowledge that we are unified, tied by our ancestral blood and spirits. That gives us pride and strength and purpose in this gathering here today and every day in all we do. Oh, thank you. Gracias. Mary travis allen for the land dedication. The los pueblos, indigenas del norte de america. Bienvenidos a todos. And welcome to tonights 2023 latino heritage Month Celebration in city hall in San Francisco. Orale, por favor. Before we begin, we just want to take a few moments. It always gets so serious and so quiet when we start. I hope everyones ready for a celebration tonight for extraordinary honorees as we want to make sure that we represent our leaders in labor tonight who are here that i have, that we that we have recognized and some who will recognize a little later on in the program tonight. But, of course, Kim Tavaglione from the labor council, olga miranda from local 87 are elected leaders. Shamann walton, asha safai, aaron peskin and of course, our latina elected city supervisor from district seven, myrna melgar, who our afrolatina District Attorney brooke jenkins. The honorable maria evangelista, thank you for joining us tonight. Leading our elected brass is, of course, our sheriff, paul miyamoto. Thank you to our fire chief and to our police chief for being here with us tonight and serving our communities. Our director of public health, grant colfax, george rivas, who leads our office of Civic Engagement and immigrant affairs. Elmi bermejo , who joins us from the Small Business administration. And our consul generals from so many countries that are joining us here tonight from the americas and elsewhere. Supervisor peskin, i think you know that i recognized you. We come here together to celebrate our shared roles in taking care of our home in San Francisco. Mayor joaquin torres. Im your elected assessor recorder here in the city and county. And my name is larissa lugo, executive director of the Central American Resource Center in San Francisco. We are honored to be your co emcees for the celebration of latino power history fauci influence advocacy , arts, culture, cuisine and community. We want to thank the Host Committee for their work in planning for tonight that showcases our strength in unity and diversity. Tonight we celebrate latinos contribution to our city and affirm our rights to dignity, equity and inclusion. Somos San Francisco. So we are San Francisco. As National Political players seem intent on denying the contributions, dignity and rights of our our community deserves, it becomes ever more important to recognize and reinforce our diverse local Latino Community and the work we do right here at home. When San Francisco stands on the right side of her story, we set the course for other cities to follow. Our city values of inclusion, opportunity, Racial Equity and justice are alive and well, but reflected in the work of tonights award recipient. Tonights host, Committee Members and of course, all of you here to join us in celebrating the Latino Community and our beloved city, a city for all we know that our work is far from done and that the equitable recovery we wish to see for our city requires all of us. And that means you to our city administrator, carmen chu. Together, we work to support our Small Businesses, our vendors, our merchants as we continue to navigate this postcovid reality together, expanding our collective work on on the collective work during the pandemic. The Community Hubs offer bring a right to recover, connecting people to good paying jobs, invest in our leaders and organizations, creating opportunity for our diverse latino constituencies to thrive , creating new Resource Centers to respond to the needs, rights and aspirations of our immigrant brothers and sisters, the very people that fuel the economic engine of our city, our state and nation. I want to take a moment to thank mayor breed and the board of supervisors for your support and investment in carsons new home and community Resource Center here at the intersection of the tenderloin, soma and mid market community. And lets highlight some of our National Significance as well. In 2020, latinos came out and voted. We voted for democracy, for equality, for justice, and for the country that we helped shape and vision and are committed to you. And we will do it again in 2020. Four generations of latinx leaders have and continue to shape the environment that we live in from our pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement, including the landmark case of mendez versus westminster of the 1940s that began to crack those racist walls of segregation to the organizing years of cesar chavez and Dolores Huerta, whose monumental efforts to bring our communities together in nonviolent since black brown, brown native and api in the name of dignity and respect, remains so significant that we etched their names in the awards that we hand out tonight to the journalists who told our stories is brought us information we could trust and educated our communities. When Mainstream Media refused to do so from the posters you can see. Thank you, Ralph Remington that you can see next door the focus on our advocacy and our fight for rights in our community to the murals that brighten our streets in la mission and tell our stories of pan latino unity and solidarity. We all, in the pursuit of social justice. Tonights award, which depicts a Community Treasure in the carnaval mural on 24th and south venice in the heart of la mision to our commitment to saving lives in our community during a global pandemic. An effort replicated nationally and recognized formally by the white house and current administer station. This is how we show up and deliver for our city, a city for everyone. The city we call home. So was San Francisco. We are San Francisco. And this is what we celebrate. And honor tonight. Our shared power, our shared culture, our shared unity may breed has been that ally for our diverse latino communities all throughout her life, recognizing that our needs are San Franciscos needs, investing in our present and in our future , upholding our city values, ensuring that San Francisco continues to be the sanctuary that our communities rely on and a city we can all be proud of. So supporting us in safety, health, education and Economic Opportunity with investment that that move our Community Forward in the most difficult of times is by stepping up, stepping up for us latino migrants. When the federal government would not or could not because she will knows the disparities that our communities of color face, not only in the context of a global pandemic, but in every aspect of our system. Issues that affect us today. Boleros, ladies and gentlemen, please help us in welcoming our mayor london breed. Thank you, larissa, and thank you so much, joaquin. When they make a Great Dynamic duo, dont they . Happy latino heritage month in San Francisco. Sona san fran cisco. We are San Francisco and im so happy to see so many people here. And let me tell you, im really excited about this years honorees. These are three of the most amazing trailblazers in San Francisco. And william, i am so in awe of you two because of the work that you do every single day to uplift and to support start Small Businesses in San Francisco. I know as a native you love San Francisco, but you love San Francisco and you love your Community Even more. And let me tell you, the work that he did is the way of the future for what we need to address food security. He helped during the global pandemic, make sure that we were making a connection between the community and the people who needed the support and the cultural competent grocery stores. The places that sold the item arms that the community needed to buy so that they were able to make their own decisions and take care of their families. And it was a brilliant model that we need to continue to replicate in this city. Thank you so much, william, and congratulations. And i want to say to carson piedra, who is the first latina to lead and to lead the Teachers Union in San Francisco, let me tell you what i appreciate most in everything that she does. Yes, its important that she takes care of her membership and she takes care of the teachers, but she cares so deeply about the students and their success. Yes. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that she is fighting for teachers and educators as a whole and that our students receive the kind of education that they need. And deserve, especially after the challenges of a global pandemic. The bridges that shes been able to build with parents and with other people whove had challenges in their various communities, have just really made me develop a profound amount of respect for your work. So congratulations and thank you so much. And let me tell you this woman whos getting the Lifetime Achievement award, she is somewhat of a quiet force now. You see her on telemundo. And, you know, shes reporting shes, you know, giving you the facts. Shes providing the information about the community. But you know, when you dont have some times great journalism, you really cant appreciate and respect all the extraordinary work that she does to make sure that this community in particular is well represented, that the fight and the struggles of this community are shown and documented for over 20 years, shes been in the cameras. In your faces, asking the questions , promoting the stories that would never, ever make it to television. If it wasnt for her. She has been doing this for over 20 years, and she took it even further during the pandemic to make sure working with the Latino Task Force, when we needed to make sure people understood the resources that were available for testing and for vaccinations and our rental assistance and all the work that we did together, she she highlighted those stories and made sure that she helped us get the word out in an extraordinary way. So we are so grateful. Three amazing young people who serve the city and county of San Francisco well, who should make us all proud on a daily basis. We are here to honor you and recognize your commitment and your legacy. But i also want to take an opportunity to go a tad bit off script, because i do think its important to acknowledge someone who was a part of the planning of this event, but who has been a part of planning this event for the past couple of years, who continue to work with the committee, who work with my office to deal with the challenges around Job Opportunities and employment, who was always available to work with the Latino Community and the Latino Task Force, who made sure that there was a relationship that existed with labor. And i understood what was happening on the ground to make sufficient changes to address these issues. Some of you may have heard that josh asked at the end of the month will be taking on a new role and i am so proud of him. Im so grateful for his friendship and his service to the city and county of San Francisco. And i just want to say, josh, thank you for everything that you have done for this city and for the people of San Francisco. We love you. We appreciate you so much. And. It is always so important that we acknowledge people for what they do because these individuals who were talking about. Yes they are doing a job to a certain extent, but theyre also doing what they love for the people. Theyre doing what they can to uplift the history and the latino heritage in San Francisco, to make sure that there is a real connection between what is going on in City Government and how were allocating resources and how were being held accountable and how were making that work for the actual average, everyday people that are living the lives in the communities. We appreciate you all so much and we appreciate so many of our leaders and folks who continue to carry the torch to carry on the legacy to remind us of our history and whose shoulders we stand on and what we need to continue to do to make sure that we are preparing and taking care of the next generation. So that those stories are not lost, so that this heritage is integrated into what San Francisco is. We are a truly amazing, remarkable city, but we are not that without the people, our history, our diversity and our culture. So i want to thank you all so much for being here to celebrate latino heritage month in San Francisco. So. So let the festivities begin. Mayor breed, i know we wanted to welcome the Host Committee to come up and join you for a picture. Before we move on with the remainder of the ceremony tonight. So if we could invite the Host Committee to come up to these steps right now and join the mayor for a picture. Okay, come on. Come on up. Come on up. Okay. I pfizer on the thing right. Okay. Ready. Ready one, two, three. One more round of applause for all the members of the Host Committee who have put in so much time together with a very incredible model. Later. And josh arce, to ensure that we could celebrate the strength of our diversity in unity here tonight. Cesar chavez not only championed the principles of nonviolence in organizing for the dignity of farm workers across this country, but also illuminated the importance of educators in addressing the poverty that lived not only in our pocketbooks, but in our hearts and in our minds. He believed that the loving touch of this most precious Community Resource s a teacher could educate a young heart better than a book could alone, and that they had the power to the advance the lives of our children, our families, us, our communities, and our collective future. Thats why its my honor to introduce our first awardee for this evening, an advocate who has shown true strength in shining a light on what our teachers and para educators need for the benefits of our schools and our students and our communities. Cassandra curiel. You heard it from the mayor, the first latina president of the united educators of San Francisco. For our community, the opportunity gap is no stranger. We saw its disproportionate impact most starkly during the pandemic, and we see it widen when our schools do not have access to the resources that we need for our community. We understand the value of organized labor and having someone at the helm who is not afraid to fight for fair wages, safe working conditions, stable jobs. We know teachers dont choose this profession because they were promised a big paycheck or a short workday. We know they do this for something more for love for the children that they serve. And with respect for how important this role is in molding, shaping and educating all of us, we understand the importance of substantial and significant representation in the classroom in our union halls and in our elected offices and how inspiring is it knowing that in our community and our Educational Needs are represent with a powerful latina in charge. A latina who is a bridge builder, unapologetic in her fight to support those in our city who need our care the most unapologetically latina, unapologetically union to all of our labor leaders in the house, we thank you. And we recognize you together with cassandra for all of your accomplishments. And to you, cassandra, our 2023, cesar chavez labor awardee. We congratulate you. Bienvenido those. Thank you very much. Thank you for the honor of this award. I am a teacher. I am a president. But i am an eldest daughter and a Second Generation Mexican American raised during a time raised during a time in our States History when there was a war on spanish and it hit our schools and impacted my own upbringing. And like that period , our community has had to struggle for every recognition we have won in our city, in our state and in this country, we are in a critical moment now for Public Education and also for the working people, the immigrant and latino people of our city. As just one example, it was heart wrenching today to hear that our sfusd families are sfusd students who were at a press conference are facing homelessness. And i know that this is a serious issue and a long standing issue from personal experience working at Visitacion Valley middle school for 11 years without the available spots or vouchers or support system. We have to draw attention to this particular issue because it affects our work as educators in our classroom and in our schools. Our students learn best when theyre housed, when theyre fed, when theyre cared for. And its just one of the many reasons why were fighting for community schools. If we prioritize the wellbeing of our whole communities, then we will all thrive. I am deeply committed to advocating for these needs and for the rights of our community and all marginalized communities in building unity, we need to build solidarity. We organize, resist science. We defend our rights. And my role as a labor leader and as an educator is in that tradition, in the same tradition as cesar chavez and Dolores Huerta and the thousands of other Community Leaders named here and those in this room who do this work day in and day out. And it is part and parcel of a larger tradition of the Labor Movement and of educator unions that usf led the way in Getting School level access to testing and high quality masks for students. During the 20 2122 covid waves. When we were back in person again when we donated our stimulus checks in an effort initiated by our now executive Vice President , frank lara, when he recognized that our undocumented families and School Community were getting hit hardest during this pandemic, we are proud of our heritage, our heritage of resistance, our heritage of collective strength, our heritage of community, a community built building to be part of the solution. And in accepting this award tonight, i reinstate my commitment to be part be part of that community, be part of our efforts for social justice. Somos San Francisco. Thank you. Frame. This year. Right . Yes, please. Yes please. Yes. Its yours. I have the honor of introducing somebody from my barrio. Our next honoree is a recipient of the Rosario Anaya community award. This award honors an individual who has committed their career and lifetime to the betterment of our Latino Community. The work of commissioner will ortiz. Cartagena will m ortiz. Cartagena. Truly embodies the spirit of this award and the spirit of our beloved carissima Rosario Anaya, whos watching us arriba hes a native San Francisco, an a leader in the mission district, the excelsior and latinos, San Francisco and is the founder of cartagena council, which focuses on uplifting latino businesses, specifically those who were hit hardest during the pandemic. He has a long history of working in Hospitality Industry and, more importantly, of service to the community. Atty. William represents the best of San Franciscos creativity and ability to get the job done. His contribution options are immeasurable. Thank you, william, for your dedication. Muchas gracias and tremendous impact as we embark on the hard job of recovery and making sure that latinos are not left behind , it is an honor to ask you to join us on stage as a recipient of this years Rosario Anaya community award. Hi. Como estamos mi gente woo. I am humbled to represent this. This is a culmination of generous actions of people that stood before me. Rosario herself. I remember running around nlds as a little kid. Venmo borrero and i used to hate being in that building, right . My mom needed a job. Wed be out there. You know . Rosario always give us a snack. So so were all 360. But pero Nuestra Gente in the pandemic, we were the hardest hit. And we put all our pettiness aside and we got together and we helped community. No matter where we rich, poor , it doesnt matter. We were at the Mission Food Hub serving that food in the thick. We ran towards the fire and now our population is actually the only population in San Francisco that actually has grown. Esto es Nuestra Gente. And im here just to thank people, my beautiful family, the sacrifice of the hours i give for community. My mom, may she rest in peace. The homeboys from the streets that keep me always grounded. Love you guys. My team and family at gallica. I love yall. Love yall. All diana, josh, joaquin. I know you an assessor now, but love yall. Roberto. My godmother tracy. Val ill see you. The office of Small Business. Madam mayor. Frisco baby galileo alum. We doing it right. Board of supervisors. And thats the city, the media. The National Media can paint what they want. Or we might not get along. Sometimes but this is frisco. This is San Francisco. And lastly, lastly, i want to give a special shout out to the city of San Francisco herself. She birthed me. She raised me. She nurtured me when my mom was fleeing el salvador, she embraced my mom, undocumented and all. When people didnt believe in me, she did. She gave me second, third, fourth, fifth chances. She introduced me to culture, to she was my economics professor. She instilled in me empathy and compassion in and gave me life lessons that at the time i probably didnt understand. And but she was always just and always fair for that. I appreciate her and i will never stop defending her and i will never stop contribute to her. And if you could ask my kids that were born and raised here, kids say aloud, whats the best city ever. There you go. I appreciate. Thank you, everybody. All right. The recipient of the Dolores Huerta Lifetime Achievement award embodies the principles that dolores taught us that every minute is a chance to change the world, that every moment is an opportunity to organize, is the recipient of this award. Respects the integrity of their profession and leverages the power of their voice and the focus of their storytelling for the benefit of communities. Be our next honoree, pilar nino. Has been and is that trusted voice in San Francisco and the bay area for the immigrant and Latino Community. His through her Spanish Language reporting, she uses her platform to amplify issues that matter the most to us. As a trailblazer in her field, she spent ten years as a sole San Francisco reporter for telemundo and has received multiple emmys for her journalism. But shes not just a reporter. Shes a leader, a leader who knows that a trusted voice matters, that a trusted voice can save lives. Immigration in health care, politics, local and national, lgbtq plus rights, domestic violence. These are just some of the issues that shes tackled so many stories that can and should be celebrated. But id like to take a moment to focus on her coverage of the global covid pandemic working, collaborate safely with our city and our latino leaders in community and at large. Pilar knew intimately that the Latino Community, many of which were essential workers on the front lines, needed information, needed it fast, needed it correct. Needed it right. It needed it from someone they could trust in the dark, early and uncertain days of 2020, when things were real bad. Pilar was right there with us. She saw us. She saw you. So many of you here today in this room. Who stepped up and helped save lives as grandparents, fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, our loved ones. As she brought our stories to the forefront of everyones minds to show that our collective experience and our trauma demanded vital support from government at every level and our greater community. She brought light to the heroic efforts of the ecosystem of latino organizations, leaders and the essential role that migrants played and so much more. The stories of how, again, the very people in this room made it so that San Francisco had one of the highest vaccination rates and the lowest death rates across the country. She. Threw everything that you do, pilar. You put Community First in your coverage in your stories, in your life at home. Pilar were so proud to invite you up to accept the 2023 Dolores Huerta Lifetime Achievement award. Thank you for representing the best of our strengths, integrity and perseverance in all that you do. Good evening. Buenas noches. A todos es tambien. One day when i was about 13 years old and living in my native bogota, colombia, for who . My father asked me. What do you want to do when you grow up . I remembered that i quickly replied. I want to change the world. He smiled at me and said, yes, pilar, at your age, we all want to change the world. What i never imagined is that years later i would end up here in San Francisco. Chico, a city that has in its dna that same objective of to change the world for the better. Some of the stories i have covered during these 23 years in the San Francisco bay area are a good example of that. Lets start with a struggle to allow the matricula consular to be used as a valid form of identification for immigrants. That happened in 2001. You remember today is a reality across the nation. The driver license for undocumented people, the gay marriage. How many times workers want on a strike asking for 50 more cents per hour or 1 after the occupy movement, we saw increases of 3 per hour. The Latino Task Force , a National Model and nationally recognized model of how to serve our community. All these movements that i have covered, if they were not born here in San Francisco, they certainly received plenty of attention, energy and fuel in our area. So a major breed, dear friends and family, the honor has been mine and keeps being mine to be able to witness and report on these issues. In fact, it is San Francisco that saved me from becoming cynical about reality. San francisco gave me hope and more importantly, keeps giving me hope that we can work on the root of our collective problems and find real solutions. Premium. Miss padres estan aqui presentes. I want to dedicate this to my parents here present with me. Gracias. Gracias por las fuertes para volar to my parents. Thank you for giving me strong wings to fly to my brothers, my familia me, my brother, my sister. Thank you for your unconditional support, your love and your patience. Believe me, its no fun to have a sister who is a reporter always asking for contacts, for interviews. Thank you for your patience to my second home, telemundo. Thank you for your trust and for allowing me to be me. Para la Comunidad Latina de San Francisco de la guia de la bahia. Gracias. Gracias por confiar durante todos estos anos sus historias in me. You give me a reason every day to keep fighting to my friends. Where are my friends . This is also for you because we all share the dream of trying to improve the lives of others. To my partner in life, this is for you too. You are my rock to the other life of my life. To the other love of my life. My sweet son mateo, who is currently serving in the us army. Im so grateful to be your mom. Thank you all for this amazing honor with a renewed spirit. I will keep trying to change the world. One story at a time. You know why . Porque si se puede. Thank you. Thank. If i could invite all the honorees to come up, please, and join the mayor for a photo, and then well invite all of the Host Committee members. Our elected officials, and our Department Heads and consul generals to join as well. If i could invite all of our elected officials to join the honorees. And if we could invite up the Host Committee. If everyone could stay, if someone could stay, and we can invite the Host Committee up. And of course, all consul generals. We have mexico in the house, japan in the house, peru in the house, italy in the house. El salvador. In the house. Mas, por favor. Bienvenidos was. And if our Department Heads would not be shy and please join us. Dont be shy. Dont be shy. Come and join. Yeah. Well take a moment to settle. Well take a moment to settle. I am looking at my co emcee to join me up here. Por favor. So now its our honor to invite to members of this years Host Committee with whom, without doubt this event would not be possible. Thank you for our sponsors, Roberto Hernandez and Anne Cervantes will recognize the sponsors of this years latino heritage month awards. Yeah surprised . So you want to start off, whos here for wells fargo. So um, so ill start with wells fargo. Yeah tonight were thanking wells fargo for the sponsorship for this event. What do we have . Wells fargo here. Lorenzo. Lorenzo lorenzo, come. Lorenzo. Lorenzo, come on up. And this is a special mural. Its about to be landmarked. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay your next up. Nice okay , cool. Ill do it. Ill do. Ill do. Josh, go ahead and do. Okay this is special because as my mom and i are really be great fans and i want to just thank the Golden State Warriors for sponsoring this event. From them, from the warriors here. As for vanessa, mr. Velasquez, vanessa, vanessa. No. Oh okay. Mayor oh, there she is. There she is. Oh, there she is. Vanessa. Thank you. Okay now, you know, thats a special. And this is special. And this is special because this award is important because its going to be one of our first history. Latino assets from the mural movement. That will be landmark. And we want to thank all the support and the board of supervisors, but especially mayor breed. So we have a little. Thank you. Can you come up and get the. Thank you . Yes. Welcome. Whats really important is on your seats because it talks about the fiesta de la maricas when it was celebrated and a lot of you know is that i document a lot of our history. Its mostly not from books but from oral histories. The native american tradition in first voice and also know from the spanish newspapers that were here when the borders changed. And a lot of our history is documented in these papers as well as Current Events and poetry. I the next ones is special to so thank you an lets give a big round of applause for ann cervantes. Under her leadership tip is why this carnival mural is becoming a historical landmark in San Francisco. And its appropriate that here in the 45th anniversary of carnival San Francisco, its happening. So thank you. And i really person we want to tell you muchas gracias and you know i love you dearly we have something very, very special today for somebody that that we love dearly, somebody that. For me and its real hard for me to bear with me is somebody that i admire. I respect. Ive learned to love seeing him as a family man in growing his children and a man that. 24 over seven is going and going and going, you know, and theres just a certain amount of people that will do that that will just give and give and give and give and so at this moment, id like to ask my brother, joshua, ask from another mother to come up here. Ahead and to stay up here. I didnt know how long you are. Is lisa here picking up the kids . Shes picking up the kids. And then here and then here. Okay. But i also wanted to recognize your wife. Yes. You know, because it takes a lot from a partner to understand hand to be able to do to the other half of whats needed in a home. And i also want to recognize and appreciate your children because i know the sacrifice is sometimes they make no in the sacrifices ive made my children, you know, at times. So we got a couple of Little Things for you, but thank god they have their Public School teachers. Oh, thank god. They have their Public School teachers. So first we want to give you because as for carnival, you youve been an angel to us because theres always something that comes up and you know, and theres certain people that i can go to and count on that are not going to say no. Theyre not going to say why. Theyre not going to say what what theyre going to say. How do we get it done . And so for carnival, on behalf of our family of 45 years, thank you for all the times that youve been there, problem solving and getting things done for us when we need it. You on the low riders . No, no, no, no. Dont go away. Dont go away. Dont go away. Go, go. I like the behind the scenes mayor. No, no, no. Get you stay here. Youre going to stay here. And im going to tell you something. And. And i not only call him on carnival, but for the San Francisco Lowrider Council. You know, we have an annual king of the street event, and were having a hopping contest. And there was some dispute one year about who jumped higher. And so the following year, i called brother josh arce and i told every member of the Lowrider Council i got the biggest mexican man, the tallest mexican man that will make sure that hes right. Heads. How high your car hop. And so he has become the official tallest mexico man for the San Francisco Lowrider Council annual hopping competition. And theres no undisputed arguments no more because of this brother. Wait, wait. Im not done. You know, ill tell you when you can go. Okay, folks want a party. Thats the thing. We are want to eat and drink. And the last guest on behalf of the Latino Task Force. 24 to 7, madam mayor, i want you to know that he was there for us. 24 over seven, 9 00 at night, 11 00 at night. We one in the morning, six in the morning, seven days a week. When ever we needed something. He was there for us. So we do not normally give these out because theyre theyre very special. And theres only an event that we do this annually. But collectively we decided that wed go out the box and give this special award that we give out in the mission district, which is called el corazon award. Thank you, salma. So on behalf of the Latino Task Force, we present this honoring your corazon alma espiritu, and dedicate mission to advocate and empower the Latino Community through workforce force cultura and health. The Latino Task Force of San Francisco, october 20, 23. And id like to ask all the members of the Latino Task Force to come up and grab and lets do a selfie, come on. Thank you. Gracias. Roberto. Gracias. And if we could have the Host Committee come up for a final picture with mayor breed and her proclamation in honor of latino heritage celebration and brother josh, these are for your wife. Maybe shes here right now. Thats a thesis name. Yes. Yes. One an last picture with the Host Committee. If you could all come up, please. Okay looking this way, were. Felicidades a todos y muchisimas. Gracias may we have another round of applause for all of our honorees as i want to make sure that we recognize some additional members who are in the house tonight. I see. All is well. All is well. I see our deputy chief, daniel perea, in the house tonight. I want to recognize the work around Racial Equity that Claudia Flores is doing the work of the Community Economic Development Division with the anna ponce de leon. I see another Department Head here , Sarah Dennis Phillips from the office of economic and workforce development. And to anyone that i missed lo siento lo siento to you and to you, roberto. Gracias. Otra vez. Thank you for all of the work to ensure that the carnival mural one of the most important murals in our cities history for our community, has been represented and etched into the awards that our honorees receive tonight. This marks the end of our speaking program. We have some wine, we have some refreshments. And congratulations again to our honorees. Now is the time to break bread and celebrate food, refreshments and good music over here with dj juan love in the northlight court. We want to thank all of our sponsors who are joining us tonight. We want to thank all of our electeds, the Host Committee and all nlds mission, language, vocation school, cafe de hoya amellivora for helping us set up and clean up chavez winery, who youll find inside for food and refreshments and all the other amazing vendors who have made tonights special muchisimas. Gracias a todos, a disfruto. Buenas noches comienza a la as a woman of color who grew up in San Francisco i understand how institutions can have an impact on communities of color. I think having my voice was important. That is where my passion lies when the opportunity to lead an office in such a new space came up. I couldnt turn it down. I was with the District Attorneys office for a little over nine years, if you include the time as an intern as well as volunteer da, all most 13 years. During the time with the das office i had an opportunity to serve the community not only as the assistant District Attorney but as director of community relations. That afforded the opportunity to have impact on the community in an immediate way. It is one thing to work to serve the rights of those without rights, victims. It is really rewarding to work to to further the goals of our office and the commitment we have as City Employees and advocates for people who dont have a voice. I dont know of anyone surprised to see me in this role. Maybe people have an impression what the director of the office of cannabis should be like, what their beliefs should be. I smash all of that. You grew up in the inner city of San Francisco. My career path is not traditional. I dont think a person should limit themselves to reach full potential. I say that to young women and girls. That is important. You want to see leadership that looks diverse because your path is not predetermined. I didnt wake up thinking i was going to be a prosecutor in my life. The city administrator reached out and wanted to have a conversation and gave me interest in the new role. I thought you must not know what i do for a living. It was the opposite. She had foresight in realizing it would be helpful for somebody not only a former prosecutor but interested in shaping criminal Justice Reform for the city would be the right person for the space. I appreciate the foresight of the mayor to be open how we can be leaders in San Francisco. I was able to transition to the policy space. Here i was able to work on legislation, community relations, communication and start to shape the ways our office was going to reform the criminal Justice System. It is fulfilling for me. I could create programs and see those impact peoples lives. I am the change. It took truants youth to meet with Civil Rights Movement leaders who fought to have access to education. Being a young person to understand that helped the young people realize this was an important thing to give up. What we find is that young people who are truanted have a really high homicide rate in our city, which is a sad statistic. We want to change that. Coming from a community we are black and brown. I dont reach out to other people. I dont think they feel the same way. I had the great opportunity to work on Prison Reform issues and criminal Justice Reform issues. We created a program at san quentin where we brought district opportunities to lifers and talk about how we are all impacted by the criminal Justice System. We brought over 40 elected das to san quentin for the situation. Now we are inviting the police department. Our formerly incarcerated group born out of this programming asked for the opportunity to work on a project where we could bring the men in blue on the outside to come speak to the men on blue inside to start the healing dialogue around how the criminal Justice System specifically in San Francisco impacts the community. I was attracted to the role. There was a component of equity that was part of this process. The Equity Community here in San Francisco is a community that i had already worked with. Before i took steps to visit cannabis businesses i thought it was important my team have a chance to go inside and speak to men who had been impacted. That conversation needed to happen so we know how we are making an impact with the work that we are doing. The das office as we were leading up to the legalization of marijuana in the state we started having conversations on the policy team what that could look like. The District Attorney was really focused on the right side of history for this. We realized it would be quite a heavy lift for individuals who have been negatively impacted by the war on drugs to expunge the record. It was important to figure out the framework to make it seamless and easy. They put their minds to it after some time and many conversations the data analysts and other policy walk throughs on the team came up with the idea to engage the Tech Community in this process. Code for america helped us developed the rhythm to be used for any jurisdiction across the state that was important to create a solution to be used to assist all jurisdictions dealing with this matter. The office of cannabis is the first office to have a completely digital application process. We worked with the digital team to develop the online application. There are going to be hiccups. We are first to do it. It is one of the most rewarding parts to offer a seamless to offer a seamless approach. That is how they can find solutions to solve many of the community challenges. The best way to respond to prop 64 was to retroactively expunge 9,000 cannabis related records for San Francisco. It feels like justice full circle for my personal experience. In the past i was furthering the war on drugs just as my directive. Really coming from a place of Public Safety. That was the mandate and understanding. It is nice to see that pass a society we are able to look at some of our laws and say, you know what . We got it wrong. Lets get this right. I had the privilege of being in the existing framework. My predecessor Nicole Elliott did an incredible job bringing together the individuals superpassionate about cannabis. The office was created in july of 2017. I came in early 2018. I have been able to see the Offices Development over time which is nice. It is exciting to be in the space, stickily in thinking about her leadership. Looking for the office it is always we might be before my time when i was working for the forboard of supervisors. I learn new things every day it is challenging and rewarding for me. We get the privilege to work in an office that is innovating. We get to spearhead the robust exprogram. I am excited she came on board to leverage experience as a prosecutor 10 years as we contemplate enforcements but approaching it without replicating the war on drugs. I was hired by cam laharris. I havent seen a District Attorney that looked kind of like me. That could be a path in my life. I might not have considered it. It is important that women and certainly women of color and spaces of leadership really do their part to bring on and mentor as many young people as they can. It is superimportant to take advantage of as many opportunities as they can when they can intern because the doors are wide open. Plans change and that is okay. The way this was shaped because i took a risk to try something new and explore something and show that i was capable. You are capable, right . It was about leaning in and being at the table to say my voice matters. You find your passion, the sky. music . Passion, the sky. The Ferry Building one of San Francisco most famous that as many of 15 thousand commuters pass through that each gay. One of the things that one has to keep in mind regarding San Francisco is how young the city we are. And nothing is really happening here before the gold rush. There was a small spanish in the presiding and were couriers and fisherman that will come in to rest and repair their ships but at any given time three hundred people in San Francisco. And then the gold rush happened. By 182948 individuals we are here to start a new life. By 1850 roughly 16 thousand ships in the bay and left town in search of gold leaving their ships behind so they scraped and had the ships in the bay and corinne woods. With sand the way that San Francisco was and when you look at a map of San Francisco have a unique street grid and one of the thing is those streets started off in extremely long piers. But by 1875 they know they needed more so the Ferry Building was built and it was a long affair and the first cars turned around at the Ferry Building and picking up people and goods and then last night the street light cars the trams came to that area also. But by the late 1880s we needed Something Better than the Ferry Building. A bond issue was passed for 600,000. To build a new Ferry Building i would say 800 thousand for a studio apartment in San Francisco they thought that was a grand Ferry Building had a competition to hire an architecture and choose a young aspiring architect and in the long paris and San Francisco had grand plans for this transit station. So he proposed the beautiful new building i wanted it wider, there is none tonight. Than that actually is but the price of concrete quitclaim two how and was not completed and killed. But it opened a greater claim and became fully operational before 1898 and first carriages and horses for the primary mode of transportation but Market Street was built up for serve tram lines and streetcars could go up to the door to embarcadero to hospitals and Mission Street up to nob hill and the fishermans area. And then the earthquake hit in 190 six the Ferry Building collapsed the only thing had to be corrected once the facade of the tower. And 80 percent of the city would not survive the buildings collapsed the streets budges and the trams were running and buildings had to highland during the fire after the actuate tried to stop the mask fire in the city so think of a Dennis Herrera devastation of a cable car they were a mess the streets were torn up and really, really wanted to have a popular sense they were on top of that but two weeks after the earthquake kind of rigged a way getting a streetcar to run not on the cable track ran electrical wires to get the streetcars to run and 2 was pretty controversial tram system wanted electrical cars but the earthquake gave them to chance to show how electrical cars and were going to get on top this. Take 10 years for the city to rebuild. Side ferry use was increasing for a International Exhibition in 1950 and people didnt realize how much of a Community Center the Ferry Building was. It was the center for celebration. The upper level of Ferry Building was a Gathering Place. Also whenever there was a war like the filipino war or World War Two had a parade on Market Street and the Ferry Building would have banners and to give you an idea how central to the citywide that is what page brown wanted to to be a Gathering Place in that Ferry Building hay day the busiest translation place in the world how people got around transit and the city is dependent on that in 1915 of an important year that was the year of our International Exposition 18 million living in San Francisco and that was supposedly to celebrate the open of panama differential but back in business after the earthquake and 22 different ferry boats to alamed and one had the and 80 trips a day a way of life and in 1918 San Francisco was hit hard by the flu pandemic and city had mask mandates and anyone caught without a doubt a mask had a risk ever being arrested and San Francisco was hit hard by the pandemic like other places and rules about masks wearing and what were supposed to be more than two people without our masks on i read was that on the ferry those guys wanted to smoke their pipes and taking off their masks and getting from trouble so two would be hauled away. The way the Ferry Building was originally built the lower level with the Natural Light was used for take it off lunge storage. The second floor was where passengers offloaded and all those people would spill out and central stairway of the building that is interesting point to talk about because such a large building one major stairway and were talking about over 40 thousand people one of the cost measures was not building a pedestrian bridge with the Ferry Building and the embarcadero on Market Street was actually added in and in 1918 but within 20 years to have San Francisco bay the later shipbuilding port in the world and the pacific we need the iron that. As the ferry system was at the peak two bridges to reach San Francisco. And automobiles were a popular item that people wanted to drive themselves around instead of the ferry as a result marin and other roots varnished. The dramatic draw in ferry usage was staggering who was using the ferry that was a novelty rather than a transportation but the ferry line stopped one by one because everyone was getting cars and wanted to drive and cars were a big deal. Take the care ferry and to San Francisco and spend the day or for a saturday drive but really, really changed having the car ferry. When the bay bridge was built had a train that went along the lower level so that was a major stay and end up where our Sales Force Transit Center is now another way of getting into the city little by little the ferry stopped having a purpose. What happened in the 40 and 50s because of this downturn we were trying to find a purpose a number of proposals for a World Trade Center and wanted to build it own the philly in a terrible idea objective never gotten down including one that had too tall towers a trade center in new york but a tower in between that was a part of Ferry Building and completely impractical. After the cars the Tower Administration wanted to keep americans deployed and have the infrastructure for the united states. So they had an intrastate free plan the plan for major freeway systems to go throughout San Francisco. And so the developers came up with the bay bridge and worked their way along embarcadero. The plans were to be very, very efficient for that through town he once the San Francisco saw had Human Services agency happening 200 though people figure out city hall offender that the embarcadero free was dropped and we had the great free to no where. Which cut us off from the Ferry Building and our store line and created in 1989 and gave us the opportunity to tear down the free. And that was the renaissance of Ferry Building. That land was developed for a new Ferry Building and whom new embarcadero how to handle travel and needed a concept for the building didnt want that was when a plan was developed for the liquor store. The San Francisco Ferry Building has many that ups and downs and had a huge hay day dribbled adopt to almost nothing and after the earthquake had a shove of adrenaline to revise the waterfront and it moved around the bay and plans for more so think investment in the future and feel that by making a reliable ferry system once the Ferry Building will be there to surface. This meeting will come to order. Welcome to september 28, 2023 of Public Safety Neighborhood Service committee. The clerk is mrs. Carroll and like to thank sfgovtv for staffing the meeting. Do you have announcements . Jb the board and committees convene hybrid meetings. The board recognizes equitable access is essential and will take Public Comment as follows, Public Comment taken on each of the 7