Transcripts For SFGTV Government Access Programming 20240713

[off mic] i didnt even know i was going to be speaking today but i want to say thank you all for coming to stag and manor. Its such an honor to serve this community which is my community, the community ive lived in for many years now. Its been such an honor to have the shop open for a year this saturday with incredible customers coming through every day with so many wonderful things being a part of it all. And i hope we are all just sharing these experiences with all our friends and neighbors to get more people out, because now is the time to really support Small Business. Im so happy, andrea mentioned the friends i was going to mention to make sure they got a shoutout. Ill add crystal way, another long time Small Business that does wonderful work. Come out on next thursday for the castro artwork at one of our Wonderful Community events. Also the following saturday our neighbors are going to be hosting the rocket Dog Rescue Group next door as part of a promotional event to show our community and the way we Work Together. So again, thank you everybody, such a pleasure. Come on up. The cookies that [off mic] finally. So everyone gets one. These are from hot cookie . Yes wow, look at that. Doesnt look like a cookie, it looks like a cake. Wow. Thank you. All right. Thank you, again, thank you mayor breed. Such a pleasure to have you in the shop. Thank you, seth. [off mic] well, as was mentioned by the supervisor earlier, unfortunately there was a fire that happened just a few weeks ago. And the amazing men and women of the San Francisco Fire Department did an incredible job. And afterwards, the people from the office of economic and Workforce Development did a extraordinary job stepping in, meeting with people, working with the tenants as well as the Small Business owners to provide whatever support we could. We know that experiencing fire oftentimes you lose everything, but then its not just the people, its also maybe the employees and meeting payroll and how you get up and running. You run a Small Business, you know, youre probably you know, again, the person who is the owner and the employee and sometimes you are lucky if you are able to hire other people. And then to add a fire to a situation makes it even worse. But im really excited that the city has a Disaster Relief fund that provides an opportunity to support our Small Business community in a way that gives them what they need to not worry so much. I mean, its not a lot, but it is more than what it used to be, which was nothing. And this is an opportunity to support our Small Business community, because what we want during the time of rebuilding and dealing with all of this, that we provide a little bit of support that will help in whatever way possible to at least keep those persons on their feet as they go through this most challenging process. And so i want to thank Joaquin Torres and his office for working so hard. In bureaucratic years, this is really fast to happen. [laughter] supervisor, you know, to have checks ready to go. We are going to be presenting four checks today to osaki sushi. Mr. Wang, thank you so much. And they had to do work for this. They had to fill out a whole application and everything else. And sam from cafe mystique. Met sam on the way in. Thank you, sam. Thank you. I appreciate it. And let me tell you, some of these businesses, you have been there since who has been there . There was a business thats been there, body oil or body since 89. And body. Andrew. Come on up. Isaiah oh, who is andrew . [off mic] oh, well, body, since 1989 this business has been in the castro. And how amazing is that . So we are so happy that you were opening right away. So make sure you stop by and purchase some items. Im so glad to have you. And last but not least, q bar, john . Are you here from q bar . Here you go. Thank you, really. And let me just say how much more important it is that when these businesses that arent back on their feet get back on their feet, that we support them. And that we go and we visit and we spend money as much as we can, because this im sure was difficult. It wasnt just the merchants. There were other People Living in the building. I think four are back in their apartments. But there are another eight people that arent. So very difficult time for all of you. We are glad to have you here today. We are hopeful that the rest of the businesses will open and then that you would get a lot of business so the merchants association, the San Francisco chamber of commerce, you got work to do to advertise for this community, these Small Businesses, lets support our incredible merchants in San Francisco. Lets have a good time in the castro. And lets eat these cookies, because they look good. [laughter] [applause] thank you so much. Go. Shop and dine the 49 promotes local businesses and changes san franciscans to do their shopping and dooipg within the 49 square miles by supporting local Services Within the neighborhood we help San Francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant so where will you shop and dine the 49 hi in my mind a ms. Medina. Working for the city and county of San Francisco will immerse you in a vibrate and dynamic city on sfroert of the art and social change weve been on the edge after all were at the meeting of land and sea worldclass style it is the burn of blew jeans where the rock holds court over the harbor the citys Information Technology xoflz work on the rulers project for free wifi and developing projects and insuring patient state of at San Francisco General Hospital our it professionals make guilty or innocent available and support the house Senate Regional wearout system your our employees joy excessive salaries but working for the city and county of San Francisco give us employees the unities to contribute their ideas and energy and commitment to shape the citys future but for considering a career with the city and county of san francisc lets get started. Welcome. Yeah. You can be excited. You should be. Welcome to the beautiful new playground, everyone. [ cheering and applause ]. My name is phil ginsburg. I am the manager of the recreation and Parks Department. Were so pleased to have everyone here to celebrate what is really a transformation for this playground, a place where childhood memories will be created and opportunities for imaginative play are endless. There are a lot of Community Supporters and folks that made this happen. Were going to introduce and recognize all of them during our short program, but im so honored to introduce someone who has kept her eye on this playground for many years. As District Supervisor and now as mayor, she is our park champion and chief. Our kids do not need an advocate, because theyve got mayor london breed. Mayor breed thank you so much, phil. Let me tell you, i cant be more happy than to be here today. I remember a couple years ago when we cut the ribbon on the new basketball courts and there were conversations going on and on and on about the playground and the next to do something better. The parents who bring their kids here on a regular basis reflects what we see here today. As much as i love. I grew up in sands, so im a big fan, but the fact is these kids are going to have a great time. We are so lucky in San Francisco that we have so many people in this community that are so generous and were actively engaged to shape what this playground looks like right now. We have amazing contributors who have invested so much money into supporting and making this happen. Our incredible partner, the Parks Alliance, thank you so much for your continued alliance and this playground. Thank you were jody pritzer for your major contribution to this project. And brian baker who hosted. Thank you so much for your work and for your advocacy. The work that you do to raise the funds and contribute to make this possible makes it happen sooner rather than later. So thank you, because the kids that are here today are going to be able to have a good time and enjoy this amazing playground. I know they dont want to hear a bunch of long speeches. I know they cant wait to get started with playing. Thank you to the nopa community and the ashbury community for your work and advocacy. It is so great to be here today to have this incredible experience. I know you are wondering why is sheriff vicky hennesey here today. Shes not here to take anyone to jail. Her granddaughter is a lover of this playground and we are happy to have her as a supporter, so thank you for your service to San Francisco. Fill, you say that i am the park champion, i tell you no one works harder to bring in the resources and move these projects faster to get these done so that you have these results today. Thank you and your team for the work that you continue to do. [ applause ]. Mayor breed last but not least, i started that and she finished it. Valley brown has been an amazing advocate for this community for decades and she made sure that we got this project done. I will say in absolute record time. We just broke ground on this project last year and in bureaucracy time, this is fast. Ladies and gentlemen, the person who was making it happen and doing the work for this community, your supervisor, valley brown. [ applause ]. Thank you, mayor breed. I remember when this was a twinkle in your eye, phil. I see the ashbury council is here. People have come here because this is an amazing park and the way that it was done with the contributor contributors made it what it is now. Look at everything. I was looking around. I cant believe how cool it is, and im going to take a slide down that slide. I dont know if anybody has done it yet, but i want to go and slide down that slide. It looks so fun. I have to say that the city is like a tanker in ice. Every time we try to do something, it takes that long. This is something that went fast because of community support, because we had private people coming in and saying lets make this work, and we can turn faster than a tanker in ice. Thank you, everyone, thank you, mayor breed, and lets play. Supervisor brown said it perfectly, lets play. The mayor has keys to the city and gives proclamations at the board and we give away park signs to true park champions. Thank you for all of your incredible support. [ cheering and applause ]. The mayor alluded to the fact that this was a Big Community effort. We need partners and friends. Government doesnt do it all alone anymore. We need the support. Im pleased to bring up our closest friend, drew beker. The alliance of Parks Department have worked together since 2013 or 2014 on lets play s. F. Which is our campaign to renovate the 13mo 13mostdeserving playgrounds around the city. It is a 30 million effort that has a significant amount of public money, but that wasnt enough to get it done. We are the Parks Alliance and is the San Francisco recs and Parks Department Work Together on so many things, including our 150th Golden Gate Park celebration. This is part of that. The panhandle itself was practice for building Golden Gate Park. Around the park are 80,000 trees that were planted to figure out what would work best down the road. Im so pleased to bring up a special partner, drew beker. Thanks, phil. I want to give a shout out. Thank you, mayor, thank you, valley, thank you, phil. The Parks Alliance is so happy to be a part of this wonderful event. I would like to give a shout out to the civic committee. Thank you so much. You helped make this possible. I want to give a shout out. Thank you, liz, for everything you do. Also brian baker held an event before this. Thank you for you and your family to support us and the San Francisco Parks Alliance. Thank you so much. And the rec and park commissioners, we couldnt do this without them giving the okay to make all of this happen. We have partners with rec and parks and they dont get shout outs that much. I want phil, lisa, and abigail to know how much we appreciate what you do. It is so amazing to have one of the top rec and Parks Departments here in San Francisco. You have no idea how important it is to push these types of projects forward and make this happen and thats because it comes from the top. Your amazing manager, phil, ginsburg, lets give it up for him. This publicprivate partner that was alluded to, we raised about 11. 3 million for 13 playgrounds across the city. Our goal is to raise 14 million, so we have a little bit more to go in order to make this playground and close out this program and have the most equityfocused Playground Initiative in this country called lets play s. F. Lets make sure you visit lets play s. F. Make sure you are part of this movement to bringing this movement to 20,000 kids across this city. Its about making parts a part of each and every community. Parks are part of the big puzzle, about keeping the parks part of our story. We need to move neighborhoods forward building parks. Thanks for being a part of this movement and lets play. Thank you so much. Thank you, drew. This playground is about play and its about community. So representing our community today, we are so pleased to welcome 45 preschoolers from steppingstones preschool. Your granddaughter is here, but steppingstones has a spot in my own heart. Representing steppingstones and speaking on behalf of the community, im pleased to welcome a few members to share the importance of lets play. Hi. My name is rakoia. Im a director of a local preschool up the street, but more importantly im a mother of a 2 year old who is up there right now. I actually came here from l. A. I went to ucla. When i came to San Francisco and looked at the preschools for work and realized none of the preschools have outdoor spaces or if they did, it was tiny. So steppingstones uses the community for their playground. What a resource to have playgrounds like these. This is an amazing playground just for the preschoolers, but also now that im a mom, for communities like this for playgrounds that inspire community and imagination. We were just here in april for the ground breaking, and now its november and its incredible. Thank you so much, everyone. [ cheering and applause ]. Before we do our first slide with our steppingstones preschoolers and supervisor brown, we have some gratitude. I need to do some closing acknowledgements. We have a lot of gratitude for all of our supporters. Without their help and support as i said, this wouldnt be possible. Let me echo my thanks to the pritsker family. For brian and lesley baker, thank you so much for your support. For the folks from kaiser permanente, they have been big supporters. This weekend we lost an advocate for health and equity and diversity and true supporters of playgrounds and someone who understood the very important experience of play. We would ask you to take a quick moment of silence in mrmr. Permi mrmr. Permi mrmr. Permi mr. Permit permanentes honor. Thank you. Lets give a round of applause. Were also pleased to be joined today by sheriff hennessey and her granddaughter. Vivian liang, and then dmitri barstani is here with his mom, georgia. Are you here and can you raise your hands . Theyre over there. Thank you, dmitri and georgia for being here today. Were honoured to be here. His memory and gus memory will live on. I would like to thank niko and marie who helped to work on the bench plaque that i believe are here. Tim sieford and michelle welsh. Steve courier from the parks and recs open space advisory. And then to the design and construction teams, you have an inspired design and project. They deserve our thanks. To the landscape project. Jeff cooper from c. P. M. Services. And then to my own amazing team, the project managers for this effort, it takes a village, karen rupert, brett emerey contributed to this project. Thank you, lisa branson, to your team to make this dream come to reality for our kids. Were going to have some honorary preschooler that is are going to join us. Supervisor brown, if you want to join us too. The mayor is going to lead us in a countdown. Mayor breed okay, supervisor brown, youre going to have to put a kid in your lap. Are we ready, kids . Five, four, three, two, one, lets play thank you, everybody. In the words of our mayor, lets play. [ ] im nicole and lindsey, i like the fresh air. When we sign up, its always so gratifying. We want to be here. So im very excite ied to be here today. Your volunteerism is appreciated most definitely. Last year we were able to do 6,000 hours volunteering. Without that we cant survive. Volunteering is really important because we cant do this. Its important to understand and a concept of learning how to take care of this park. We have almost a 160 acres in the district 10 area. Its fun to come out here. We have a park. Its better to take some of the stuff off the fences so people can look at the park. The street, every time, our friends. I think everybody should give back. We are very fortunate. We are successful with the company and its time to give back. Its a great place for us. The weather is nice. No rain. Beautiful San Francisco. Its a great way to be able to have fun and give back and walk away with a great feeling. For more opportu