Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Conference 20150831 : vim

Okay. Did you want to make your comment formally . My name is george. I recommend continuance in the absence of time. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who would like to speak on this item . Seeing none, Public Comment is closed at this time [ gavel ] all right. Motion made by supervisor wiener, unanimously accepted by this body. [ gavel ] motion passs to continue. Thank you. To the call of the chair. Is there any other work before this body. There snow further business before the body. Thank you ladies and gentlemen. This committee is adjourned. [ gavel ] good morning, everyone morning and good morning it is as we celebrate the 95 anniversary of women having the right to vote in the united states. Yeah. clapping. but california led the way 10 years earlier or not we proud of the leadership of california im honored to be here with the secretary of state alex ma dew and charles a student at San Francisco State University clapping. kimberly rather with the executive director of the Civil Service of the state of california a newly elected and melva davis a treasurer to us just want to make a few points as we hear from our guest when women won the right to vote the headlines said women given the right to vote that was not true women wrnlt given anything women worked and struggled and fought and starved were starved to take it either way they did everything for this fundamental right to vote as we had fought for others to have the right to vote after the civil war now it was expanded to women this is a precious privilege and right and we must honor it and those gathered here are committed to preserving and honoring that right to vote this is also the 50 anniversary on the march on selma that was clapping. that was the bridge to the valley the bridge to the ballot Martin Luther king said the ballot the ballot the ballot legislation legislation legislation your life the connection between the ballot and the people were bean and killed everybody on if bridge to the valley including my great colleague john louis they made big sacrifices so people had the right to vote and yet pernicious efforts to block participation to the ballot and again, we dont agonies we organs they agonies we organize in his and the Supreme Court diminished that but the congress refuses to put forth the boy Partner Proposal to restore the act we cant rest until we pass john louis legislation to do just that clapping. so it is a pretty exciting time so many things are happening the 50 and hundred and fifth anniversary but in the last election 1 3rd of the electricity voted 1 3rd and john louis contends after the election of 2000 measures were taken that greatly diminished assess to the ballot so whether people dont see the connection between their lives and voting and policies that effect them or obstacles to participation across the country including by the Supreme Court Voting Rights act we must make sure your constitution is honored and everyone who is doable to vote can vote and none is a bigger champion than alleles pa deceased our secretary of state clapping. over the years the secretary of state had to remove the barriers to participation to outreach to engage people to vote he is doing this in a way that technology and brings him to do especially reaching out to young people modernizing registration of voting in every way and he is giving out pins youll covered up with the purple purple from my tiniest college the colors off my college hes doing this in such an important way he is leapfrogging over obstacles in a fresh way that is a model to the country it is an honor for us to have him here this morning and thank him in person for this is a leadership to help us support and didnt find the constitutional right to vote to remove obstacles to expand participation and that everyone that is eligible to vote can vote and everyones vote is counted as cast alleles padilla clapping. i city enjoy saying thank you, maam speaker clapping. thank you so much for the introduction and outlining what indeed is at stake you know i want to thank mayor ed lee for the hospitality and to all of you who have taken time out of your busy lives to be here were celebrating a lot of things today, were celebrating the 50 anniversary of the Voting Rights act and the congresswoman if you misplaced yours ill give you mine laughter . So you can wear that the rest of the day we had pins made celebrating the fact that california celebrates the Voting Rights and 50 years that was voted on a bianca base for the voting right and the floor and the senate a republican so we believe the principles is part of the issue it is an american and democratic issue we needed to remember that we are celebrating the 95 years of women earning, winning fighting for successfully for the right to vote as leader pelosi said prior to said california was no matter the earliest states to afford the right to vote for women the stay constitutional amendment we put together through our archives a displace to my left. Our right with fascinating images a t label the revenues from selling tea in tea partys a big part of the earning the Suffrage Movement the thought or right of to vote for the special election held in november 1911 with the exultant community by Community Breakdown of california to afford the right to vote in state and local elections we have a copy of the Senate Joint Resolution of 1919 california helped to ratify the 19 amendment and some of the petition memorabilia from the 1878 Constitutional Congress i ask you take into account what we brought but we this is the year 2015 and for the celebration to what franchisements and Voting Rights how far weve come as a country we recognize were not talking about and a quick survey in the last several years reminds us of several bills introduced far too many have been put into law by dozens and dozens of states that rolled back the clock over a purging of the reductions of early voting opportunities, overly aggressive voter id laws one example North Carolina where if youre a student at a State University and bring tour student identification doesnt let you in but a gun permit does. We have work to do were california and being the early states in giving women the right to vote over and over our leadership on complooifk or other issues thats part of the ambition in policy leadership when it comes to Voting Rights i ask for your support for a couple initiatives working their way to the is legislature and a state of the Art Technology to make Voter Registration automatic if youre 18years old with a citizen lets add the people to the voter rules with one step color to not stacking that away we have a proposal to modernize Elections Technology allows us to afford voters flexibility not just in how to cast a ballot in person or by mail but Voting Centers we can give voters the opportunity of where to cast the ballot anywhere in the community and give the voters the flexibility of when to cast a ballots and lets bring an early 10 days of voting to california lets do that. Yeah. clapping. thats our twostep counter punch to those who want to roll back the clock on Voting Rights we want to make it easier to cast a ballot we fight for our Voting Rights not only by defense but oh, fence and doing it to the speakers talked about with the start with leader pelosi leading the charge at the federal level im happy to do my part working with the good afternoon and legislature we have a community Voting Rights revoke but the next speaker is a champion of Voting Rights at the local level our host your mayor of San Francisco mayor ed lee clapping. well, thank you mr. Secretary of state for that introduction and thank you all of you for being here this morning and thank you, leader pelosi for your ongoing. repeated. the constitution of the united states. Battle leadership that we need more our city, for how state and country im proud of all you being here even though were in the basement of the city hall this is as active as the first floor this is where a lot of things happen and Vital Decisions are made im so glad here in the peoples palace were joined by assemblyman david chiu and carmen chu your board of supervisors a number are here i see commissioner avalos and supervisor jane kim and supervisor mar did i miss anyone oh, commissioner christensen newest and, of course, we have some special participant that will be speaking in a moment but well hear as understand the history what happens here as that time in a couple of months are people expressing their values their choices and everything from officeholders to critical policy decisions that effect hundred of thousands of lives happens right here if we had more time id show you the base slrts some people made sure that buildings were assessable and safe those are critical decisions that everyone no matter where you came from have a right and should demand not only locally or statewide but always be demanding our rights be enhances and protected this right to vote he people died for this very, very right. I wanted to honor them with everybody here recognizing that important right i see in this crowd a lot of people who spent volunteer hours on your own as a volunteer as a Community Activist or a representative of our neighborhood right here making sure that people have less barriers and bringing people here to guide them when they couldnt find the polling place what language do you speak how to make sure we by reason of that particular barrier and educate each other in committee was this is what we do in San Francisco as your first historically Asian American mayor, i know about the barriers as our parents and Community Leaders taught us we had a difficult history in this city matched what the difficult histories of others i honor them in their movement to compressors my right and also the privilege of being the mayor here in San Francisco so many people can dwell around the things that disfranchised so Many Community in our history but were here now we know what freedom is we know was it expression is and wherever youre watching the board of supervisors and the mayor interact you know that freedom is special laughter well, we joined with leader pelosi our secretary of state to fight against the restrictions that have prohibited the right to vote obstructing our electrical process but we join with advocacy grasps groups that fight every single day like our women voters and the status of voting the people it that gives us arraign to come together there is a reason to fight for those things theyre about the way we want to live in San Francisco and in San Francisco thats a huge, huge objective equality for all has already been a San Francisco value and already been i want to borrow a mantra leader pelosi says everywhere she goes in the country when women succeeds San Francisco succeeds. clapping. will you see it in the leadership i have the privilege of working with every single day im proud to be in a position where id be able to appoint in the meanwhile to that seat as a Zoning Administrator i was able to appoint carmen chu as the assessor recording and jooiks as newest member of the board of supervisors, highest level pause Women Deserve it and by way of they do a great job with us, yes clapping. and you know we have many examples as our commission on the status of women knows we have leader pelosi and senator feinstein and senator box and those are Accomplished Women fire hydrant for San Francisco residents in the Nations Capital that is a team of force clapping. well, we also know that women have lead the way to the ballot box process as well i want to take a special opportunity to honor the legal women voters in San Francisco city of lead the Voting Rights movement in the city providing vital election information and getting the women out to vote and making sure the agenda was fuller than the established agenda might be and earlier this year and recently actually our Human Rights Commission i know our members are here took a privilege to honor the legal women voters and, of course, a long time Voting Rights advocate maxine for advocating the Voting Rights give special recollection and the womens sufficient rage 95 years ago helped toe lead the way for the Voting Rights act and lincoln those movements we become a Stronger Community as we understand that for everyone it is appropriate to recognize womens equality day today in San Francisco the challenge of gender equality is not one to be left to the next generation we need to fight it right here and make advancements here im proud to say our own San Francisco workforce a half women and their equal to the men in management and professional careers outstanding women run our city departments im proud of that from the fire chief to the Human Resources director to the Public Health director, of course, and the Zoning Administrator and i see our director of our environment and the senior programs that are here as well and this year at my direction my administration will be identifying and eliminating for barriers to prevent women from city jobs prairie those that pay great are sailors we need to do better where under is technology or Public Safety or in the construction jobs we need to do better and we will and were also not just we lead the way and ton to be the example but a strong voluntary voice what should happen in the private sectors as well theyve become our partners in those parkinsons well also make sure their opening the doors just as i said to all the Management Employees at salesforce yesterday we need to make sure our goals are your goals as well well, ill say to you that we are always leading the nation in a Family Friendly policy with Health Insurance and Retirement Benefits to working parents and last year, i joined and was proud to sign then board president david chius establishing the right of all employees to we fmly Work Arrangements wherever they worked in San Francisco women shouldnt have so choose been a great career and family both of those are great investments in San Francisco. clapping. so i know ladies and gentlemen, we have a lot of work ahead and i do want to take inform opportunity to introduce someone special doing great work starting out as an intern and works for the Democratic Party registering voters at San Francisco State University and making sure that newest immigrants are recommended to vote and shes on expressive young star more than a rising star already a star in her own ill introduce ms. Charles clapping. hello, everyone at San Francisco State University we are a school of activists who will not be silenced with rising tuition costs and the lack of funding for Higher Education and school debt and myself having to work two jobs to get through college as the state knows we need a change alleyway on my compass we have thirty thousand students from various background many are First Year College students we work hard to make sure that every student is empowered and their vote is a catalyst for change the university has been working hard to insure that students have a seat at the table we have on compass voting place for all students to be informed and many students are increasing getting the message through the social media last year on the campus we ran an Aggressive Campaign that took advantage of a mechanism that reached over the thirty thousand population of students to vote online and stay informed were continuing how mask Voter Registration leading up to the 2016 voting circle we we celebrate the womens equality day it is not more of the we know our job is not done because of the background of the students we know what it medians to feel like i said. And we work to make sure that our students speak up and vote as we advocate fo