We are giving them as a way to get around the city. Just the joy of like seeing people test drive the bicycles in the small area, there is no real word. I guess enjoyable is a word i could use. That doesnt describe the kind of warm feelings you feel in your heart giving someone that sense of freedom and maybe they havent ridden a bike in years. These folks are older than the normal crowd of people we give bicycles away to. Take my picture on my bike. That was a great experience. There were smiles all around. The recipients, myself, supervisor, everyone was happy to be a part of this joyous occasion. At the end we normally do a group ride to see people ride off with these huge smiles on their faces is a great experience. If someone is interested in volunteering, we have a special section on the website sf bike. Org volunteer you can sign up for both events. We have given away 855 bicycles, 376 last year. We are growing each and every year. I hope to top that 376 this year. We frequently do events in bayview. The spaces are for people to come and work on their own bikes or learn skills and give them access to something that they may not have had access to. For me this is a fun way to get outside and be active. Most of the time the kids will be in the house. This is a fun way to do something. You get fresh air and you dont just stay in the house all day. It is a good way to exercise. The Bicycle Coalition has a Bicycle Program for every community in San Francisco. It is connecting the young, older community. It is a wonderful outlet for the community to come together to have some good clean fun. It has opened to many doors to the young people that will usually might not have a bicycle. I have seen them and they are thankful and i am thankful for this program. My name is marie pena, a producer and video programmer specialist for sfgovtv. My dad always had a special or new electronic gadget and i remember visiting one summer he bought a huge square box that was amfm radio and it had a tv integrated into it. I remember watching some videos that really impacted me and i said i wanted to do so once i graduated high school i wanted my career to be in the indiscernible i worked in television for now about 30 years, and more important to me is my whole time in media, it really focused around informing my community, particularly the latino community. Im originally from mexico, my parents immigrated here when we were very little so i straw the struggle within immigrant community. indiscernible in contributing to informing viewers and being a resource for people to get information and be empowered with that. One thing that i noticed versus my male counter parts is that sometimes i really felt i wasnt taken seriously because i was a woman, and as a latina, it is even more so and talking from my personal experience. We have to prove ourselves even more. I also had people along the way in my career that have really mentored me, that have taken me under their wing. I thought what female inspired me in my life, my mother said dont let anyone put you down and be proud of who you are. She emphasized to me p because im a woman i need to learn to stand up for myself, and to really assert myself and do whatever i needed to do to be successful. If i could go back in time and have a sit down conversation with my younger selfi would tell her to trust yourself. Trust your gut, dont second guess yourself, allow yourself to make mistakes and dont try to always have the perspect situation. You need to take indiscernible because if you dont get out of your comfort zone, you wont know what else is out there and opportunities come up that you never imagine will happen. You are watching San Francisco rising. Hi, you are watching San Francisco rising. Reimagining our city. Hes with us to talk about how our librarys economic recover. Mr. Lambert, welcome to the show. Thank you. Im glad to be here. I know its been difficult to have books going virtual. Have we recovered . Yes, we are on our way. Our staff stepped up big time during the pandemic to respond to the health emergency. Since last may, we have been able to steadily increase in person access to library facilities. Currently we are at 95 of our precovid hours of operation. In the coming weeks we are going to fully restore all of our hours. We have four branches that we are going to bring back to seven day service. They are currently operating at 5 days a week and we are going to go to every tag line and i know all the foot traffic has not returned to San Francisco, but our library is seeing a resurgence coming back. Can we talk about programs after covid . Absolutely, that is part and parcel of our mission. We were doing that work precovid and certainly the library stepped up during the pandemic. We doubled our level of programming for personal finance, Small Business help, jobs and careers. We have a dedicated Small Business center here at the library. There is a wide suite of programs that our librarian led. We have a Financial Planning day coming up in october and we have financial coaches that members of the community can come to the main library and take advantage of their expertise. I understand the mission is in the middle of a renovation. How is that going and are there other Construction Projects in the horizon . Yes, we have Major Projects in the pipeline. The Historic Mission branch library, Carnegie Library over 100 years old and we are investing 25 million to restore that facility. We are going to restore the original entrance on 24th street, the staircase from the lower level up to the grand reading room. We are going to push out on the orange alley side of the library and expand space for teens and children, we are going to create a Robust Community room, a multipurpose space. We are also investing 30 million in the chinatown branch, we are going to upgrade the mechanical systems to the highest level of filtration as we increasingly respond as cooling centers and air Respite Centers and open access to the roof. It has some unique views of chinatown to create the inspiring space it is. I believe you have programs for families that have free and low cost entries for museum and zoos, is that correct . Yes. Its a fabulous resource. Go to our website. With your library cart, patrons, our residents can go to the Public Library and get passes to the museums, all of the incredible cultural institutions that we have in San Francisco all for free with your library card. How are these great Free Services paid for . How is the Library System funded . We are so fortunate in San Francisco. We are funded for by the library fund and those that taxed themselves just for library services. We also get a dedicated portion of the general fund. That together allows us to be one of the most well supported libraries in the nation. We have the third most library outlets per square mile of any municipality. All of our Branch Libraries have professionally trained librarians onsite. Service that we are able to provide, the collection, we are a leading library in our country. That lead know ask about your biggest annual event in the city. How does the event work and whats happening this year . We are excited for this years one city one book. This is our signature annual literature event. We have everybody in the Community Reading the same book. This years title is this is your hustle named after the Pulitzer Prize nominated and pod taste. This is about the population. One nice thing about this selection is that they are both local. We are going to have several weeks of programming, kicking off next month. It will culminate here in the auditorium november 3rd. So our Library Patrons will get to meet the authors, hear from them directly, and one other important aspect about this years selection, we have our own jail and Reentry Services department. Recently the Foundation Awarded the San FranciscoPublic Library 2 million to work with the American Library association to shine a light on our best practices here in San Francisco, and really help our peers in the industry learn how they can replicate the Service Model that we are doing here in San Francisco. Thats great. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming on the show, mr. Lambert. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, chris. Thats it for this episode, we will be back shortly. You are watching San Francisco rising. Thanks for watching. I think a lot of times we get in adult lives we are afraid to follow our passions and think life cant be that easy. But i truly do believe i followed my heart this time in my journal in City Government i did not know that is where my passion lied. I kept following it and ltd. To great opportunity to serve the city. [music] im katy tang the executive director of the office of Small Business. Small business contributes to San Franciscos economy. They provide the bulk of employment in the city and employing a Million People in San Francisco. And roughly 90 of the businesses are defined as Small Businesses. So, they contribute to the economy but also just the quality of life. Small businesses are more then and there a place of transaction it is a community center. A play where people gather. Know each other and form memories about the city. At the office of mall business i run a team this helps report all mall businesses in San Francisco whether they are looking to stfrt a new business or expand or perhaps they are feeling with issues. Our office is here as a point of information for anyone with a business that has 100 or nower employees. I was growing up i had many ideas of when i wanted to do. I wanted to being an olympic swimmer. And i wanted to men be an architect, you name it i had many ideas for what i wanted do when i grew up. And i never anticipated entering in politics. This opportunity came along wh started working for former supervisor carmen chu and she became the district 4 sunset district supervisor. That was my firstent row in politics and government in a different level. And so when i was finishing up my time working for legislative aid i thought, i will go off and do something else. May be explore opportunity outside of City Government what was then approached by this opportunity to also serve as a district 4 supervisor. If not the traditional route that many people think of when you enter in politics. A lot know that is manage than i want to do and run for office. That was not part of my culture and upbringing with manage my parents were wondering why i wanted to go in that role this legislation and important because so many women when have it return to work after having a child feel embarrassed or dont feel comfortable asking their supervisor for will any lactation accommodations. I saw it as an opportunity you could use the position where you have tools creating legislation and pass laws and where people listen to to you help the community and pass cause catharsis important to the city and individuals. My family immigrated to the United States from taiwan. And they came here in pronl probably late 20s almost 30. And so, they came also in the knowing english limp barely read or write but had to quickly understand english to i cant haveigate services and find a job in america. I grew up in the San Francisco sunset district i spent most of my childed hoo up until i went off to college. So when i started working in City Government, i think i had mixed reactions about my involvement working government because for some of our parents generation, there is i bit of distrust in government. I think there are questions about why i was entering in this field of work. I think you know when i went in City Government i thought about my parents like so many other who is have to navigate City Services and resources english first language and help the individuals both navigate, intercept that is on an application approximate signage. It is fulfilling to mow to help people like my parent and feel like government is there to support them and not to harm them. My parents are happy that i retired early from politics and being a district 4 supervisor i could have continued on for a couple more years approximate decided to leave early. I think that over all they were able to see some of my work appear in the chinese newspaper. Through that they were able to see i was able to help communities in a tangible way. The member of the board of supervisors. Transportation authority. For the city and county of San Francisco. Congratulations. I think about one importance when i was worn in as district 4 supervisor. Years ago, and someone actually came up to me during the swear nothing ceremony and said, wow, im traveling here from canada, and i just i could not believe i saw an asian female worn in in this role a leadership role this meant so much that someone would say that and felt they were inspired by the scene. So i hope that as more people see people that look like them and more women coming in positions of leadership than i feel they can doing the same. Person this inpyred me is carmen chu who is our city add administrator but also was district 4 supervisor when i worked with her as a legislative aid. At this point, i too, was skeptical of going in politics. I saw someone who had herself never seen herself in politics. Got thrown into it and put her heart and soul and dedication to serve people. And it gave me the confidence to pursue that same job and i honestly would not have either chosen or accepted or considered serving on the board of supervisors were not for carmen. If you want to make your business accessible. In my role in City Government where i have seen the most challenge is people who dont know you and you are here to serve and help them that they classify you as our City Government and here to hurt you. So, people will talk to you and and just you know treat you disrespectfully. And sometimes i noticed that they might do more to me as a female compared to my male colleagues. But you know i try to be empathetic. One of the most significant barriers to female empowerment we feel like we have to be 100 meeting all of the qualifications before we think that we are qualified to do a job. If we look at a Job Description or an opportunity to come your way well is self doubt about whether you can fulfill the obligations of that role. I think that the confidence is huge and sometimes i think we make up for it by trying to gain more experience. More and more and more in whatever we can put under our belts well feel better. That may not be the case. We might be qualified with when we have already accomplished. I started rock climbing indoors a couple years ago as an activity to try to spends time with my husband and also to try something new and i finds that rock climbing there are so many parallels to life. You know when im on the wall im concentrating and trying to make it to the next piece without falling. There are daying you think im not making progress. You come back and wow, i hit another level. And so i feel like in our daily lives and w we think we are not making enough of i change in the city. And sometimes we have to take out time to reflect every day as long as you try and give it your all and you look back you will have made a significant contribution there is no limit to where you go in terms of rock climbing. I want to reminds myself of that in terms of daily life. Follow what it is you are interested in, what makes you feel excited about wake up every day. You never know and be open to all the possibilities and opportunity. [music] is r. My name is Debra Alvarez rodriguez. Im the Deputy Director in San Francisco. My background is one in which i have spent the entirety of my life committed to finding solution to poverty and addressing the issues of inequity so people and communities can have accesses to resources and financial freedom. One thing true anode dear to my heart was the power of Business Ownership in creating pathways to financial freedom. We have still in infancy. We had over 100 entrepreneurs come and start their businesses. Some are food trucks. Some are restaurants. Some are in farmers markets and so farther. Thats an incredible legacy and record to build upon. This was the perfect opportunity for me to come back home, you know, come back to the neighborhood and take my skills and networks and resources and put it backseat in service of the community. Given everything with racial reckoning and pandemic it was time for me and everyone else that had the opportunity to leave and get educated to come back home. We have a opportunity to grow our impact in terms of the number of people we serve and how we serve them. We grow our impact in taking the money we make with our entrepreneurs and circulate those resources back interview the community for community development. The third thing is we hav