Official Tree Lighting committee my name is pippin i have been working for santa for 313 years. And today, this is blues very first christmas Tree Lighting. It is anybody else first christmas Tree Lighting . Oh, my gosh. Your first one, too. This will be so exciting. Are you ready . [cheers and applause] before we start anything, we have to do our if you want to do stretches with us, you can go ahead and stand up and follow along. We have to do our stretches to prepare for the christmas Tree Lighting. You can go ahead and stand up or adjust to it while you are sitting down. Whatever works for you. Here we go. Snowflake. Stir the cocoa. Stir the cocoa. Stir the cocoa. Candy canes. Toboggan. Finally, sugarplum fairy. Christmas. That was good. We are all warmed up. You guys were great. I feel ready. Do you feel ready . Wonderful. Before we begin tonight, a big thank you to the civic centre c. B. D. Off the grid and the Parks DepartmentParks Department for planning tonight s event. [cheering] and to our artistic director and his amazing lineup of performers [cheering] and a big special thank you to the Christmas Fair. The Christmas Fair runs every weekend now until december 22nd at the palace. Enter the winding lanes of victorian london and immerse yourself in the world of music calls, theatres, pubs, dance parties and charming shops overflowing with holiday treasures. Discover holiday revelry for the imagination of Charles Dickens and the saucy world of the victorian stage. It is a fantastic journey back in time celebrating the most magical time of the year. Christmas oh, boy. Im so excited. Are you . Yes. All right. Wow. It is really pretty here. It is. It sure is. Where are we . We are in beautiful San Francisco. It might not be as snowy and white as the north pole, but it seems like people around here get into the holiday spirit. In fact, hit it. [ ] [singing] [singing] [singing] you look great. [ ] wawa. Wow. [ ] oh, boy. [singing] [singing] [singing] thank you. Wow. Thank you so much. How do you say we get this Party Started . I think we should. It is time to introduce our very first performer tonight. Get ready. The tap dancing Christmas Tree will show us some moves. Over the past 29 years, the tap dancing Christmas Trees have performed in americas holiday parade, the nile parade, the napa valley parade, the Hollywood Christmas parade, and will be returning once again to the palm springs festival of lights parade. Their fifth appearance in may sees parade in new york in 2016 featured them with the muppets. Wow. Welcome them to the stage, the Christmas Tree tappers. [cheers and applause] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Merry Christmas [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] i beg you, open your eyes. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [cheers and applause] wow. Wasnt that phenomenal . Lets give it another round of applause for the Christmas Tree tappers. They can really dance. Before we keep going tonight, we would like to give a big special thank you to tonights sponsor. Redwood credit. They have a beautiful new branch a few blocks away from here. And we have a number of redwood folks here tonight, as well as the banks mascot. Thank you for sponsoring tonight s festivities, especially santas maker village and our next acts are the poet athletes of america scores. These students usually come to civic centre in their soccer jerseys to play in their weekly soccer game, but not today. Today they are wearing their finest holiday sweaters. They made them themselves. Our young poets come from americas scores program. The Civic Centre Plaza is there homefield. They usually play for gold, but tonight is all about poetry and spreading christmas joy. Please welcome america scores [cheers and applause] my name is elin and i am from reading elementary. My name is hannah and im also a fourthgrader. My name is jordan and i am in the fifth grade. We are poets from reading elementary. [cheers and applause] we wrote personification poems. It is a type of figurative language. It is when writers turn non human beings into life forms. With these poems, we become emotion. Two emotion say or do if they were human . Let us show you. I am guilts. I wonder if people will ever forgive themselves. I hear your regrets and your doubts. I see you hiding your tears behind a fake smile. I am sorrow. I wonder if i can be cured like the flu. I hear your tears dripping on the floor as loud as ocean waves crashing onto the shore. I see you trying to i hang on to your heart. I am empathy. I wonder what would happen if i did not exist. I hear with whispers but feel them for myself so you dont have to. I am guilts. I keep you up at night. I pretend to be fine but i am not. I feel your embarrassment coursing down your veins. I touch your sorrow across your heart. I worry if i will be forgotten. I cry for you. I am sorrow. I feel your misery every second. I touch the broken heart in your body and it feels like a cracked phone bone. I worried you will abandon me just like grief. I cry because you might replace me. I am empathy. I see your cries as powerful as the ocean. I feel like i will absorb it. I hear laughs seeping into the air and you breathe me in. I want tears but smiles as well. I am guilts. I fester in your body, spreading slowly and control your being. I will not stop you from feeling me. I try to tried to stay but i cant. I am sorrow. I know you dont like me, but try to understand me. I say you should focus on sadness as much as happiness. I dream i am loved by you. I try to make myself part of your life. I am empathy. I care even when you dont. I feel your pain through the toughest times. My hands trembled when you are disappointed and my heart bursts when you are excited. My eyes widen and people grow when you feel love. I hope you remember me, but secretly i want you to let me go so you are free. I understand that you dont like me, but i will always be with you. I am sorrow and i want you to know that you need me to feel alive. I touch your sorrow and try to transform it into happiness. I cry every time you lie. I am empathy. I understand how you feel and i know how you feel and hope you depend on me for everything. We are love and we live inside each other and each of you. Emotions make you feel deeply and we make your hearts fuller. Happy holidays. We wish you to embrace this. Love, the season, and spread us all around. Thank you. [cheers and applause] [indiscernible] [indiscernible] [singing] [indiscernible] the twin going twinkling lights on the tree type of lights. They filled our streets. Once we get hit, let the fiesta begins. Food and family, culture, everybody wins. [speaking spanish] those are the lyrics to the city jingle. Can you hear it . Can you hear our song . It sounds like babies laughing and joining along. [indiscernible] bay bridge to golden gate. Everyone saying our song. Can you hear us . Like the sound of cars honking. From one block to the next, we sing with everyone from everywhere. [indiscernible] whether you wear an apron, a brown hat or a hardhat. Come on and sing with us. The city jingle will have you jingling and mingling. Can you hear it . It is pretty catchy. [indiscernible] the city jingle makes you move. Can you hear it . You can. Singalong. This city jingle can never go wrong. [cheers and applause] lets give another big round of applause. They play soccer and write poems how cool is that . All right. They are hosting an event this friday. All are welcome. For more info or to rsvp, go to their website. And now we are pleased to introduce six fabulous performers from move school. The theatre education program. They perform a medley of timeless holiday classics by classics by ervin burling. I love that one. Now playing through december 22nd at the gateway theatre. Welcome to the stage. [cheers and applause] [ ] [singing] [singing] [singing] [singing] [singing] [singing] [singing] [ ] [singing] [singing] [singing] [cheers and applause] lets give another big round of applause for moon school. [cheers and applause]. Werent they wonderful . They were so wonderful. I love all of those songs. Our next act has appeared on national and international television. They have toured internationally to england, argentina, and mexico. Ages seven, 10, 11, and 13. Here they are. The most musically talented siblings, stars aligned [indiscernible] [ ] [ ] [cheers and applause] [ ] [ ] [cheers and applause] [ ] [ ] [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] all right, it is a very, very special time of night. Are we ready . I think we are ready. Oh, boy. Time to light the Christmas Tree . Are you ready to light the Christmas Tree . [cheering]. We have to get some special guests up here tonight. Are special guests include phil ginsberg, general manager of the San Francisco recreation and Parks Department, Naomi Campbell and walking torres. And our San Francisco mayor, london breed. [cheers and applause] [ ] [indiscernible] all right, everyone. It is time for a christmas countdown. Here we go. Loud and proud. We have to get our special christmas Tree Lighting plunger. It is my first time. I forgot about the plunger. Thank you so much. Dont drop it, dont drop it. There we go. For you, miss mayor. [cheers and applause]. All right. Lets get a countdown started from five,. Here we go. Do you want to come up and help . We need some people to help the mayor. Come on up. Oh, boy. We are all here. We are ready. You have to help me now. Are you ready . Are we starting from 10 . Weve got it. Lets do it. Countdown from 10. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] [ ] thank you so much for all your help. Thank you for so much for all your help, everyone. Hi, how are you . He is a real leader that listens and knows how to bring people together. Brought this department together like never before. I am so excited to be swearing in the next chief of the San FranciscoFire Department, ladies and gentlemen, lets welcome, Jeanine Nicholson. applause . I grew up total tomboy, athlete. I loved a good crisis, a good challenge. I grew up across the street from the fire station. My dad used to take me there to vote. I never saw any female firefighters because there werent any in the 1970s. I didnt know i could be a fire fighter. When i moved to San Francisco in 1990, some things opened up. I saw women doing things they hadnt been doing when i was growing up. One thing was firefighting. A woman recruited me at the gaypride parade in 1991. It was a perfect fit. I liked using my brain, body, working as a team, figuring things out, troubleshooting and coming up with different ways to solve a problem. In terms of coming in after another female chief, i dont think anybody says that about men. You are coming in after another man, chief, what is that like. I understand why it is asked. It is unusual to have a woman in this position. I think San Francisco is a trailblazer in that way in terms of showing the world what can happen and what other people who may not look like what you think the fire chief should look like how they can be successful. Be asked me about being the first lbgq i have an understands because there are little queer kids that see me. I worked my way up. I came in january of 1994. I built relationships over the years, and i spent 24 years in the field, as we call it. Working out of firehouses. The Fire Department is a family. We live together, eat together, sleep in the same dorm together, go to crazy calls together, dangerous calls and we have to look out for one another. When i was burned in a fire years ago and i felt responsible, i felt awful. I didnt want to talk to any of my civilian friends. They couldnt understand what i was going through. The firefighters knew, they understood. They had been there. It is a different relationship. We have to rely on one another. In terms of me being the chief of the department, i am really trying to maintain an open relationship with all of our members in the field so myself and my deputy chiefs, one of the priorities i had was for each of us to go around to different fire stations to make sure we hit all within the first three or four months to start a conversation. That hasnt been there for a while. Part of the reason that i am getting along well with the field now is because i was there. I worked there. People know me and because i know what we need. I know what they need to be successful. I have known Jeanine Nicholson since we worked together at station 15. I have always held her in the highest regard. Since she is the chief she has infused the department with optimism. She is easy to approach and is concerned with the firefighters and paramedics. I appreciate that she is concerned with the issues relevant to the Fire Department today. There is a retired captain who started the Cancer Prevention foundation 10 years ago because he had cancer and he noticed fellow firefighters were getting cancer. He started looking into it. In 2012 i was diagnosed with breast canner, and some of my fellow firefighters noticed there are a lot of women in the San FranciscoFire Department, premenopausal in their 40s getting breast cancer. It was a higher rate than the general population. We were working with workers comp to make it flow more easily for our members so they didnt have to worry about the paper work when they go through chemo. The turnout gear was covered with suit. It was a badge to have that all over your coat and face and helmet. The dirtier you were the harder you worked. That is a cancer causeser. It casser. It is not cancer causer. There islassic everywhere. We had to reduce our exposure. We washed our gear more often, we didnt take gear where we were eating or sleeping. We started decontaminating ourselves at the fire scene after the fire was out. Going back to the fire station and then taking a shower. I have taught, worked on the decontamination policy to be sure that gets through. It is not if or when. It is who is the next person. It is like a cancer sniper out there. Who is going to get it next. One of the things i love about the Fire Department. It is always a team effort. You are my family. I love the city and department and i love being of service. I vow to work hard to work hard to carry out the vision of the San FranciscoFire Department and to move us forward in a positive way. If i were to give a little advice to women and queer kids, find people to support you. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and keep trying. You never know what door is going to open next. You really dont. You really dont. [cheers and applause] lets give it up for the tree all right. Good evening, everyone. Around of applause for the Young People Theatre Company and its director. They were amazing. They will be performing the Little Mermaid next month at the museum. Bring your family, come out and support. All right. Lets get everybody up. Are we ready to light this tree . [cheers and applause] [ ] my name is phil ginsberg. I am the general manager of your San Francisco recreation and Parks Department. We want to welcome you to the 90 th, think about that. The 90th annual Tree Lighting. This started december 20th, 90 years ago on John Mclarens birthday and his spirit is here tonight because it is not raining. [laughter] this is truly one of our signature events of the year. Certainly one of my personal favourites. And if you see all the incredible stuff happening here down j. F. K. , if you havent walked down the street, there are rides and food and games and you get a goat of conservatory of flowers from night bloom or the outside of the building and the inside of the building are all lit up. It is super cool. The start of our show tonight is right next to me. Our mayor, london breed. Mayor, thank you for joining. We will have you wait just a second. The mayor is a magician and she will make the magic happen tonight with this tree. Before we make that happen, we need to acknowledge some other special guests who are here that make this happen tonight. They have joined me on stage. Present tonight we have state Assembly Member phil taking who is right there. [applause] i think our assessor recorder carmen to is here or on her way, and then we have our recreation and park commission, our president , mar buell mar you will and all of the commissioners. We have a number of other folks from the parks and Recreation Advisory Committee who are here who helped guide park policy. We are grateful for their support. And i see a few special Department Heads starting with our police chief bill scott who is here. I saw deputy chief david lazar, the head of the department of the environment is here. And many other special guests. If i have missed anybody on this stage, i apologize. I saw a project level in the house. Thank you very much. We do events like this four times a year. Our Family Friendly free events would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors or partners including kaiser permanente, Byward Market , the San Francisco parks allianz, i saw the president of the Parks Alliance in the house, and recology. And of course, none of this would be possible without the hard work of the best staff. The best and hardest working staff in city government. The recreation and Park Department staff. Lets give them a big round of applause. [cheers and applause] so let me talk for a quick second about the tree itself. This is San Franciscos official holiday tree. This tree was planted by john mclaren. It is a Monterey Cypress that is over 130 years old. It has aged a little bit. It might have lost a limb or two over the years, but it is Still Standing tall. Tonight it is sporting over 550 lights. And what makes this Tree Lighting special is that this is the last Tree Lighting, this is 100 the 149th year of golden gate park. So next year we will celebrate the hundred and 50th birthday of our entire park system in San Francisco. Lets give that around of applause. [ ] i mentioned our partners and i want to bring up one special partner. We have many, that help us provide programs and provide services for kids and help us to special events tonight. One of those partners is kaiser permanente. Tonight, the chief operating officer of kaiser his here to join us in celebrating the start of the holiday season. Help me welcome miss miller who will come up and say a few words [applause] good evening, everybody. Happy holidays. Welcome to tonights festival on behalf of kaiser permanente. We are a proud sponsor of recreation and parks annual Tree Lighting ceremony. Can you believe it is 130 years old . What we would like to do is celebrate tonight and also welcome you to the theme for this next year which is making friends one data time. The 150th anniversary or celebration of golden gate park. 150 years. Give that a hand. [applause] in honor of that, we come together across this beautiful city to this world renowned park to meet with friends and family and to make new friends as well. Reminds me of the campfire song, make new friends, but keep the old. That is how this city grow stronger and strengthens through his relationships. We will continue to support these beautiful events and we hope that you, too, will take advantage of tonights festivities. Thank you again on behalf of kaiser permanente. Thank you. All right. So she is truly our park champion and chief. Lets get it lit, she says. She really likes to party and she is not particularly patient, but let me bring her up. Ladies and gentlemen, our mayor, london breed. [cheers and applause] thank you. All right. I love the theme music. First of all, thank you all so much for coming out today and braving the rain to be here with us tonight to celebrate 90 years of a time honored tradition here in San Francisco right in front of mclaren lodge. This is an amazing, fun event. Fun for the whole family. I love the idea that we have so many incredible officials here, but i will need some kids to help me light this tree. [applause] so i see these patient young people raising their hand right down in the front row. Have your parent bring you on up to the side of the stage so you can help me like this tree. [ ] i need some help here with this switch. [ ] all right. Come on up. I think we might be almost at capacity. Hold on. Come on over. Come on, you guys. Are you going to help . Do you want to help . Yes, i love it. You are brave. Okay. This is what we are going to do. Gather around the podium. Gather around the podium, kids. Stop trying to crash, parents. All right. Because we know how to count, we will do the count down starting from 10, and then we will hit the switch. I will ask you, what is your name . Jr. I will ask you and what is your name . Sia. I will ask you to put your hands here because when i say to move it and to liked it, then you have to switch it real fast. Okay . Everybody in this place is going to help us count, but not until we say we will start with 10. Are you already . Are you ready . Okay. Lets start. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. [cheers and applause] good job. Thank you so much for helping us here today. Have a wonderful december celebrating joy with your Family Friends and community. Happy holidays, everybody. [ ]. Shop and dine the 49 promotes loophole businesses and changes residents to do thirds shopping and diane within the 49 square miles of San Francisco by supporting local services we help San Francisco remain unique and successful where will you shop and dine shop and dine the 49. My name is neil the general manager for the book shop here on west portal avenue if San Francisco this is a neighborhood bookstore and it is a wonderful neighborhood but it is an interesting community because the residents the neighborhood muni loves the neighborhood it is community and we as a book sincerely we see the same people here the shop all the time and you know to a certain degree this is part of their this is created the neighborhood a place where people come and subcontract it is in recent years we see a drop off of a lot of bookstores both National Chains and neighborhoods by the Neighborhood Stores where coming you dont want to one of the great things of San Francisco it is neighborhood neighborhood have dentist corrosive are coffeehouses but 2, 3, 4 coffeehouses in month neighborhoods that are on their own thats