Supervisor said, Second Street is becoming the kind of main street of this district and there are streets what were going to have to maintain as kind of through streets to get to the bridge or whatever but this is an important street to think about as our main street and the street that is not only works for cars and buses but for bicycleists and pedestrians and businesses and for people just to hangout and i want to thank the mayor for his leadership and the supervisor for pushing us on this and my colleagues and all the agencies and staff of my department for getting us to this point and making this project happen. Thank you, all. [applause] so outside of the city agencies there are Many Community partners that also joined us in creating division for the improvements to Second Street and many of the other City ProjectsBrian Widener from the San FranciscoBicycle Coalition will be here to say a few words but brain is an advocate for making the streets safer and not just for psyche lists which he represents but for all users he has been a partner with many of the city agencies and we meet with him and his group on regular basis and his job is to hold us accountability so he is a partner also and his goal and what he sets out is to make sure that the vision is set out for the bicycle plan that they invisioned that has been brought to reality. Lets hear from brian. [applause] at least, many people have been waiting many years to see this day come i want to thank mayor lee and his administration for your strong support of thepe it and we dont have a stronger champion for the kind of streets that people who walk, bike and take transit need and deserve in San Francisco and also the City Department has represented here director raskin and we have great partners in sfmta and public works and planning to make projects like this happen and to pull them off. As director mentioned where we are standing at Second Street and king is part of the High Injury Network and what that means is that right here on Second Street, and actually on king street as well, we know that people are being hit and injured or worse and what that means for us at the San FranciscoBicycle Coalition and our 10,000 plus members is that we as a community and as a city have a responsibility to do something about that and projects like the Second StreetImprovement Project are a step in the right direction to providing safe streets for people walking, biking, taking transit and driving. I am really excite today see this project break ground and its my pledge on behalf of the Bicycle Coalition that we will keep our members in informed about and patron eyes along Second Street and make sure and a safe way to get where theyre going which is the ball game and as our city gross and in particular someone that lives in soma, this neighborhood continues to grow and these are the Street Project were going to need to make sure were accommodating that growth and if everybody that moves here to work and live and rides and youre an a list and its the gridlock we experience in this neighborhood will only worsen we have to encourage people to get out of their cars and to walk and bike and take transit and only way well do that is if they feel safe doing so and so i hope Second Street is a start and i want to see the improvements projects and this is exciting day and thank you again to everyone that is here so much. One more speaker but the most important speaker for this event is we are all here to say it takes a develop edge and there are so many partners in this but to return people out and bring people out to all the meetings to make sure the community is really part of the design and that we hear what their concerns are so that we can design to meet their is katie ladel, she serves the Mission Bay Neighborhood association and from all my experiences and everything that i know of katie she is a they listened to us and thank you and there were a lot of contentious meetings and i know it wasnt easy but christine and her team and mike all continued to listen so we are very, very grateful to the exercise kim to public works and to the mta for supporting the process and listening to us and making Second Street a better place to live, to work, and to come and visit the giants so thank you very much. Thank you, katie. So you haired from the mayor when he spoke the next two years could be a little rough but you know, work with us and were going to do our best to make sure that every step or everything that is happening in the neighborhood that we get enough information out to the people who live and work on the street so that they know what is happening and the end result is great from past projects, fishermans war of and some of the other projects weve heard great reviews of the project thats been completed so im looking forward to this project really today and it is in four phases and they have been worked out very, very carefully and were going to accommodate the giants games and accommodate everyone and you know, well get through it so i am excited and this will conclude our press part of it and we have a ceremonials shovelkindof event and well let the contractors go at it and thank you for coming out and lets go Second Street improvement [applause] 3, 2, 1 one. Commons 3rd thursdays is a monthly event series really activate Service Center and un plaza food and music and other social Activities Oil stephanie the Vice President of operations for this. In 2016 an initiative called the Service Center launched an effort by a bunch of the city agencies along with institutional stakeholder and Community Partners to have a program that is how to get people out here on a monthly and weekly and daily basis. My name is a im with the Program Manager and also commons 3rd thursdays will have live music important in the. The city approached us to provide food and beverages at the event kind of the core anchor to encourage attendees to food gives people a reason to stay i really like this like it is really nice like everybody is having a good time. Our goal to enjoy the space and eat and drink and listen to music we wanted to inspire people with the un plaza as a place to hold theyre community events. It is a great way to get people to know about global music and cuisine a great way to bring people together. A natural beautiful backdrop the Asian Art Museum and. It is welcoming. Two more events left in the series so, please come and enjoy and check it out were having a great time. We love our city being a San Francisco based on company it was important to engage request san franciscans and tourists alike. We want to inspire people and everyone interested in providing and coming out for a large or smallscale event reach out to the commons 3rd thursdays and well direct youre seeing to the right people to get to happy holidays. Happy holidays. All right. Im glad to be here with our supervisors, Council District merchants, community mbz, but of course, were here to thank local 798, our Fire Department. What a what a challenging year that weve had. And i know our hearts always go out to the people who will put themselves in danger in order to save others. Time and time again, our firefighters, whether its fires up north or around the bay area, they jumped to it and saved a lot of peoples lives and property. But they give joy and can do that more than other people that we know that may not have that opportunity. This toy program is something that we all take great pride in, because it represents so much of our valve values of giving back and making care of children in our city so they can have a similar experience when the holidays come. Not everyone gets that same experience, but our firefighters and our union know how to do it. On that christmas day, they will make that extra effort as well to visit the families that didnt even have something that arrived for them. Thats a special treat. It is something that i value so much, that represents a city that keeps our city really strong. So, tommy, do you, to the union, to all of the members, to the Fire Department, congratulations on the toy program, reverberating a wonderful place, for the collection, and for its distribution and also to say thank you to each and every one of the members for the overthetop contributions to the families of the city. Happy holidays to you. [applause] thank you. Appreciate it. Good evening. I would like to welcome you to our johnny v. Toy haul, named after a firefighter. Johnny v. Left us years ago in a tragic accident, but hes never been forgotten and were offered to name this after him. Thanks to generous contributions, were standing in a beautiful, beautiful toy hall. It will allow us to better serve the program. Our toy program is the citys largest and nations oldest. It started in 1949, with firefighters fixing up old bikes. And it has grown to serving 40,000 children and delivering over 200,000 toys every year. [applause] this effort doesnt stop and start at christmas. Its a yearround effort. After the napa and sonoma fires, we sent toys up there immediately, to try to put some normalization into the childrens lives. In the next few days, were sending toys down to ventura county. We send toys to pediatric aids wards, cancer clinics, anywhere where theres a child in need. There is is done through the generosity of our donors and san franciscans that put toys in the red barrels that you see, in firehouses and lobbies and for me the Holiday Season kicks off when im dreaming home, frustrated, overworked, and i see firefighters carrying toys out of a building and it reminds us of what the holiday spirit is all about. What the Holiday Season means. How you cant forget people and you need to make sure that even in this rising economy that we dont leave the poorest behind. I want to thank our special partners that have made this possible. First and foremost, we have the academy of art, who let us sleep on our couch for five or six years now and deliver toys from their warehouse. At t, air bnb, ron calloway, San Francisco giants, barberie coast, alex turk and ground floor public affairs. And our elected family as well. Mayor ed lee, mark farrell, fiona ma, malia cohen, district supervisor, who will speak right now because shes giving me the look. Ladies and gentlemen, malia cohen. [applause] thank you. I want to recognize councillor safai and jeff sheehy. Local 78 has been incredible, whether theyre fighting fires or collecting toys or making chili, they know how to have a good time. I want to recognize the Board Members that are here. I think we have jill running around. And we have sally running the program. And i want to give a shoutout to clinton park also, and if there is any other staff persons that i missed, i apologize. Its just wonderful. Thank you for giving us a reason to come out here to district 10. Thank you for giving us a reason to bring a gift and to remind you, this is not the only opportunity. When you see a red barrel across the city, please, please donate a present. And also want to remind you to come on down to city hall because well have kris kringle in the house, as we do annual i will giving out toys and taking pictures. Again, i want to welcome you into our house in district 10 and lets let the Holiday Season begin. Thank you. [applause] now before our next speaker, i want to give a special thanks to mark leno who has set up this fundraising committee. And also a very, very special thanks to jill peeler and sale gizasa and sally jacobs, our volunteers that make this happen. They ruin their entire Christmas Season up to and including christmas morning, where theyre still giving out toys. A special thanks for making this happen every year. And our next speaker will be supervisor jeff sheehy. Thank you, tom. Its so great to be here with local 798. Tremendous work you do keeping us safe. Oldest Fire Department in the country. And this toy program is so amazing that you are able to do it yearround and help kids that lost everything due to fire. I know its been really hard up north. My motherinlaw lives up there. We had her for a while, which was interesting, when she evacuated. It was fun. Thank you to the donors making this possible. Its a great list of folks and your leadership on this, its fantastic. And happy holidays to everybody. This is really beautiful. And one of the great things that i was proud to do with my colleagues was get support for this building in last years budget round. And so i was very proud of that. It may have been the best thing that we did. But thank you, everyone, and happy holidays. [applause] all right, thank you, supervisor. And our next speaker and cochair will be mark leno. Thank you, senator. [applause] thank you, tom. I think we all knew tom as santa claus is a San Francisco firefighter. Dont you know when you are in San Francisco when you are in a union hall and there are chandeliers. Think of that, where else, but in our San Francisco. Its been a great honor to cochair this evening with our dear friend halah. Thank you. And if you have never been on the receiving end of a phone call with a request from halah, you want to say yes. And i have to say, no one works it like halah does. And thats why shes so in demand and so accomplished. So we all love this program so much for all the reasons stated. Tom mentioned over 40,000 disadvantaged children will have a smile on their face as a result of 200,000 plus toys that will be distributed. And the involvement it takes, the money it takes, is not insignificant. Let me add my thanks to our corporate sponsors, foundational sponsors, individual sponsors. There are a couple of things in life that we can count on. Number one, that the San FranciscoFire Fighters will be there in our hour of need. And that every season around this time, their hand will be in our pocket trying to raise money for toys for kids in need. And i think, tom, there is no doubt why were here. We want to be supportive of you and our supervisors, president reed, thank you for your leadership. I was going to introduce the mayor, but i dont think i have to do that anymore. I hand it back to you to please help me welcome our president of the board of supervisors, london breed. Thank you for supporting this program. When i was a kid in San Francisco, my grandmother to take me shopping to buy School Clothes or whatever else. We went at woolworths, kmart, things like that. And i would leave her and i would run to the toy section. And i would have a fit. Oftentimes, i was never able to leave walmart not walmart, but kmart or woolworths with a toy in my hand. I thought my grandmother was being mean, but the fact of the matter is, we couldnt afford to buy toys. She could barely afford to get us the clothes on our backs, which she oftentimes would put on layaway. And how fortunate that i had station 5 right down the street from my house and i knew no matter what i didnt get throughout the year that in december we would line up outside that door and get handed a bag of toys. [applause] what it does to put smiles on kids faces, when you hear the gunshots and craziness and everything around you, the time that you can pick up the toys, there is nothing else that matters at that time. No matter if im supervisor or anything else in this city, its a program near and dear to my heart, that it made a difference in my life. It took care of kids in my community and theyre consistently there every december, delivering the toys, delivering the bikes, delivering the smiles, delivering the love. And so i want to thank all of the sponsors and all of the people that are here to support this amazing program. We couldnt do it without you. Just this past monday we held an ethnic doll and book drive thanks to jill, over there with her mouth full. Jill and i worked together. They would donate to africanamerican art complex. But we did have a number of the challenges, with kids being africanamerican, we couldnt get a lot of africanamerican dolls. Having a doll that looks like you, makes a difference. This toy program this launched this ethnic doll and book drive that they do every single year to recognize that here in the city and county of San Francisco we come in all shapes and sizes, colors, races, everything that you can think of. And so all kids deserve an opportunity to smile during christmas with a toy, but more importantly, to get something that is going to make a difference and remind them that they are beautiful, that they are loved, and they are special. Again, thank you to each and every one of you for all the work that you continue to do. Thank you, tom oconnor, jill, sally, halah, and senator mark leno for the work that he did to make this happen. This is amazing, a great turnout. Lets keep the checks coming in. Lets keep the volunteers getting toys out to the kids in the community. Have a wonderful evening, everybody. [applause] thank you, supervisor. Our last speaker will be supervisor mark farrell. San francisco has been very good to the San Francisco firefighters. You treat us well, come ppensats well and our toy program is giving back to the program. And every once in a while, that thank you boomerangs and this year, supervisor mark farrell secured a 250,000 grant. And for that, were immensely thankful. It helped us to put the finishes on the chandeliers that state senator marck leno loves so muc. But without the leadership of this next supervisor, we couldnt have done it. Welcome supervisor mark farrell. [applause] i get to be the closer tonight. I dont think its because i secured the grant. I think its because im the only one in this room wearing green this evening. I see a lot of red out there. [laughter] i will be quick because im at the end here. A few things. First of all, to hala and the senator, thank you for cochairing this event. You deserve a ton of credit. My colleagues on the board, i mentioned this the other week. One of the best things that ive done as a parent since being at the board of supervisors, my wife and i take our three children down to station 1 and we go out and we rise with the officers, with the firefighters, into the tenderloin and other areas and hand out toys. As you think about being a parent, the best thing you can do is teach them that its better to give than receive. You are doing exactly that. Whether you financially contribute, whether you are out there giving the toys out yourselves, this is what its all about. This is the spirit of San Francisco. Im so proud to be a supporter here. I will always be a supporter, as i know everybody in this room will. Its a personal thing. As london mentioned, so personal to so many in so many ways. As we enter this Holiday Season, that we never forget those were trying to serve. I want to say on behalf of myself, my family, thank you for all that you do and thank you to 798 and to the firefighters in this room. Thank you for what you do for us every single day in San Francisco. Thanks, everyone. [applause] thank you, supervisors and all guests. 5 i want to thank you all to johnny v toy hall and thank you to sf realtors. Welcome and give generously. Hello, everyone. Im supervisor katy tang. Welcome to 12 days of kittens. My staff came up with an idea of hosting animals in our office so people can come and not only find animals that they might want to adopt, but we found its a great stress reliever for people that work in city hall. They come around all day, whether its the shift department or upstairs or the mta, just want to pet the animals and it helps people feel better. A lot of people proactively ask us, are you bringing back the kittens . Weve been doing this for five years. It usually culminates in a party in december. Well see animals adopted throughout the year. If people are thinking about animals to adopt, they may go to a pet store, buy from a breeder, go to spca, but we want people to know that the acc has animals that need homes. Every year, her office does the 12 days of kittens. And she picks up every morning cute, adoptable kittens. She has different groups of kittens every day and brings them to her City Hall Office and theyre there all day for everybody that goes through to see and enjoy. We adopt out 900 kittens every year, cats and kittens. Were working all year long promoting adoption, getting people in to see the cats. So its a pleasure it have the opportunity to showcase some of them in supervisor tangs office. Kittens love to play and theyre frolicking and all that and its super fun. Sometimes they will roam around peoples desks. If someone wants to adopt a cat, they can identify any of them that might be hanging around our office, but we have to go through animal care and control, make sure they pay a fee. Its very affordable, as well as they receive the proper vaccination. Come on down, adopt a cat. Theres a lot of kitties waiting for a beautiful home. How can you resist this face . I think Everyone Needs a pet in their life. It makes your day so much better. I hope you will support us in