Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors Press Availability 20240713

Have lost their lives. 71 people are currently hospitalized, and dr. Colfax will continue to provide an update of where we are and why the need to continue the work weve done around sheltering in place is so important to continuing to maintain the curve. As a reminder, data sf. Org covid19 is our website so that you can access data or information that you may need regarding the numbers that we know exist around those who have been diagnosed, but also information by zip code as well as the number of tests and other valuable information that weve done. Now last week we announced the next steps for gradually reopening San Francisco, and i know that people are anxious to see our city reopen. Im anxious to see our city reopen. And this has been a very tough and challenging time for all of us. When you think about what weve all sacrificed, kids who are graduating from high school and will not be able to have a traditional graduation or attend prom, those parents who cannot go back to work because they have no child care access for their children, the people who are elderly who actually really need comfort through family and friends, who are not able to visit with those folks that they love and care about the most, especially during this past mothers day. It continues to be a challenge, but especially with regards to our economy. Our economy is suffering not just in San Francisco but throughout the united states, and what weve tried to do here in San Francisco is redirect resources and raise private dollars in order to get support in the hands of those who need it the most, and oftentimes people who may not qualify for any assistance whatsoever. The people who have been impacted the most include our Small Businesses, our Small Businesses that are really the backbone of our city, employing hundreds of thousands of people who, sadly, were laid off as the result of this crisis. When these businesses are not open, they are not generating any money. They were already having a tough enough time as it was before the coronavirus pandemic with the high cost of commercial rents, with the laundry list of fees that are charged by the city that need to change, with a number of other taxes and other expenses, it oftentimes made it difficult for many of these Small Businesses to not only stay open in their existing storefront locations but also to maintain their staff. And its gotten even worse as a result of this pandemic. And this is why i was so excited to announce just a step forward in reopening our economy, and that includes specific Small Businesses that in some cases, for example, our florist. They were allowed to deliver this mothers day, but when you think about their capacity even to do just that, to prepare the arrangements, to take in the payments, to also arrange for delivery so that everyone is getting what they want when they want it, many florists were reached out to had to decline because they had so many orders and so they had a limited number of people who were able to assist them in delivering those orders. And this is why im also very excited that florists and bookstores, folks will be able to do both delivery and Pickup Services. Music and record stores, hobby, toy and game stores, Home Furnishing and home goods, cosmetic and beauty supplies. Lord knows i need a new fresh supply of cosmetics. Art supplies and Musical Instruments and supply stores, sewing, needlework and goods stores, pieced good stores okay, i dont know what that is, but nevertheless, we are opening a number of businesses for pickup and delivery, and were doing so gradually, and i want to explain, because many have asked, well, whats the difference between what the governor, our Governor Newsom is proposing, which was that businesses would be opened this past friday, versus what San Francisco is doing. And again, everything has and ive said this from the very beginning. We follow the advice of the Public Health officials here in our city and in our region as it relates to the data that were seeing. As it relates to the number of cases, the number of hospitalizations, the number of deaths, and because of all of you who have followed these orders, San Francisco is in a better place than most cities. But were still not in a place where we are seeing a decline, and i think thats important to remember. The more access we provide people with where there is a contact with another human being, the more the possibility that infections can spread. So the fact that we are offering a delivery and a Pickup Service is a big step, and it is definitely a big risk, and we hope that the types of systems that we put into place in order to protect you as youre able to support and use these places as a resource that we will continue to see the curve not only flatten, but decline, and again its up to the people in this city to continue to follow these orders, and i want to say again how much i appreciate what folks have continued to do, whether its standing in line at Grocery Stores or pharmacies, at a safe distance. I noticed people are wearing their mask in those lines. I noticed that folks were just following the social distancing order, for the most part, in most parts of our city. And this is gonna be the reason why we are able to lower the curve, but we also know that a number of challenges still exist. So as we allow Small Businesses to begin work around pickup and delivery, we have to keep in mind that we know that the more people are in contact with the public, theres a higher probability that they could contract the virus. Weve seen that in a more recent study done by ucsf, with the department of Public Health and a Latino Task Force when they conducted in one of the seconddensist census blocks in the mission community. They conducted an ongoing testing where they allowed anyone to test and discovered that although of the few thousand people that they tested, less than 2 were diagnosed with covid19, and many of those folks were in the workforce. They were still working at various locations. So we know that the probability that the more youre out there, the more youre in contact with other people, thats how the virus could spread, and this is why its necessary for us to continue down this path. Whats great about our city, again, is weve come a long way, and testing is so critical to our ability to allow more places to open. The more access people have to testing and also contact tracing, the better our ability to identify someone as quickly as possible, make sure that they are quarantined, but also track the other folks as they have been in contact with in order to just really stop things in their tracks. I want to say that here in the city whats great is, number one, we will provide testing for anyone who is an essential worker, whether you have a symptom or not. I think its important that we continue to get the word out regarding testing, and we will provide a test to any san franciscan who exhibits one of the symptoms, and if you have the need to be tested, please call 311. Insurance is not a barrier to testing. We will test anyone, and secondly, your immigration status is not a should not be a barrier to testing. So you should not feel afraid to get tested, especially if you feel like youre exhibiting symptoms. Our testing statistics over the past month have steadily grown. We have seen an increase in the number of tests, and as of today, over 36,000 covid19 tests have been reported to dph, department of Public Health. And in the last week weve averaged over 1,000 tests per day. And i just want to remind everyone that we were not always able to get that information from some of the private hospitals that are testing, and so this is a big, big thing. People wanted to know how many tests were being conducted, and this is really, really going to be helpful to helping us understand whats actually happening in San Francisco based on the percentage of those who test positive and the number of tests weve been able to administer. And i really want to thank Elaine Forbes from the port. I also want to thank my policy director, andres powers, as well as the department of Public Health, for the work that you all are continuing to do in coordinating with the community to make sure that we have this very, very important information. The Real Progress is when we get to at least the ability to conduct 200 covid19 tests per 100,000 residents. And again, this will help us get to a place where we can begin to understand whats happening in our city, a way to address it and a way to gradually move San Francisco in a direction of reopening. Testing capacity is critical, and as a reminder, just because you are tested and you are negative does not mean that you are immune from contracting covid19 after you discover that you are negative. Or even in any other event. So i want to just reiterate how important it is to continue to wear your mask when appropriate and maintain social distancing. We also know that, you know, equity is important. Making sure that communities that may not watch the news, that may not read the paper every day, that may not be in touch with whats happening with city government, that we do a better job of making sure that we outreach to those communities with a number of trusted communitybased organizations, as well as an Incredible Group of community volunteers, and i really want to thank the equity team and the team under cheryl davis. They have been incredible. These are people we have the office of racial equity, shackra smiley is the director there. We have had her and cheryl davis working hand in hand developing strategies from day one to make sure that as we have information were communicating to folks in these communities, to the seniors in the bayview to many of our sadly homeless residents in the tenderloin to folks in various parts of the city that may not have access to what is actually going on. They have been able to distribute the work from chinatown and other communities, they have outreached to these communities on a regular basis, not just distributing almost a million flyers with information and answering a number of questions from so many of these folks, again, who are not necessarily connected to the internet or connected to resources, but you know, providing masks, providing access to support for food or connecting them to other resources. The work that they have done around education on the coronavirus and education on around resources to help people weather this storm has been incredible, and i am grateful that they are also continuing to outreach as Testing Capacity continues the work continues. Because we showed up in one Community One day does not mean that we should not be going back to that community the next day and the next day and the next day. It includes not only individuals, but we have businesses where we have people who have limited english and may not be completely familiar with the policies of the city. So its the responsibility of this equity team to really reach out to many folks who are not always connected and who may not always have the resources to make sure they have the resources and that we provide them with clear direction around testing. Because as we saw in the study in the mission, many of the people who are part of our workforce are the ones who are testing positive. So we want to make sure that many of those essential businesses that are open, as well as the delivery thats gonna start on may 18 for those other businesses, the delivery and the pickup, that they know that their workers can get tested. So i want to appreciate the equity team and the work that theyre doing, as well as appreciate the Human Rights Commission here in San Francisco. Thank you for the work that youve done on outreach, and i also just want to finally wrap it up with talking a little bit about the hotel rooms because were preparing for a significant surge. We were also preparing for the opportunity to make sure that people who are our essential Health Care Workers and our Public Safety officials who were concerned about the impacts on their families, that they had places to go where they were able to isolate themselves. Because of how well the city has been doing in terms of maintaining the curve, we have not used as many of those hotel rooms as we anticipated, and the good news is we are able to repurpose those hotels. Weve negotiated. Trent roer and the department of Human Services and his team were able to renegotiate those contracts. So now those extra few hundred rooms that were supposed to be used for our frontline workers, and to be clear, we still have access to rooms for our frontline Health Care Workers and Public Safety officials. Those rooms will be used for people who need to isolate if they are covid positive. And were talking about people who live in our singleroom occupancy hotels who, if they contract the virus, they cant necessarily social distance themself in an sro if they are living there with their family, or someone whos homeless, or someone who lives in a congregate living setting, or anyone who lives with family where theres not the ability for them to selfquarantine. We have the opportunity to extend our Hotel Capacity to provide this as a resource to the people of San Francisco. So this is really great, and i think weve come a long way. The challenges around covid19 still remain as real today as they have been since we announced the first case, and i just want to, again, thank the public for doing everything you can to follow the social distancing orders as well as the masks. Your commitment to this has been tremendous, and im sure continues to be very challenging. Its challenging for me. Its challenging for the team thats working every single day to keep all of us safe. Those who are putting themselves on the line to make sure that the city continues to run in some capacity, they are the reasons why were able to provide essential services, and so i just want to really continue to appreciate the team here at the Emergency Operations center, the people who are showing up every single day. The folks who are driving muni, the people, the Police Officers who are working their shifts, the paramedics and others who are out there doing their jobs every single day, and they dont have always the luxury to socially distance themselves when they are trying to save someones life. So so many people the Grocery Store clerks, the nurses, the doctors, the folks who are on the front lines. So many people who want to continue to make sure that they are there to support this city, to support you and to keep everyone safe, i want to, again, express my appreciation to each and every one of you and thank you to the people of San Francisco for continuing to lead us down a path of safety and getting to a better point. One day im going to stand up here and hopefully make a great announcement about the fact that because of all of you weve been able to lower the curve. That day is not today, but just keep that in mind. That day is coming and we will be so grateful when it does. And with that, id like to truce the director of the department of Public Health, dr. Greg colfax. Dr. Grant colfax good afternoon, im dr. Grant colfax, director of the department of Public Health for the city and county of San Francisco, and thank you, mayor breed, for your leadership during these very difficult and challenging times. Its been a week since the new health order took effect across San Francisco and the bay area region. As of today, there are 1954 San Francisco residents with confirmed cases of covid19, and, as the mayor mentioned, sadly a total of 35 san franciscans have died. I send my condolences to their loved ones, their friends and their community. Of the people with confirmed covid19 in San Francisco, 156 are experienced homelessness, and one of those persons has unfortunately died. This is why we continue to prioritize vulnerable populations in our ongoing response, including people over 60 and those with Underlying Health conditions. These groups include people experiencing homelessness and those who live in congregate settings, such as shelters and Skilled Nursing facilities and incarcerated settings. I point this out because even as we continue to move forward with plans to reopen, we must keep in mind that we are still that we are still in the midst of a pandemic. These are not normal times, and normal times will not return for some time. Our recovery as a community will depend on our ability to protect the most vulnerable and to maintain a Health System that can respond to continues outbreaks. And recovery is foremost on all our minds. So lets talk about the gradual path to the new normal. In the past week, we have begun to enjoy some loosening of restrictions with the reopening of construction and increased Outdoor Activities and jobs. We have also announced, as the mayor announced, that if all goes well, some additional businesses can begin to offer Curbside Pickup and Takeout Services as soon as a week from today. May 18. This includes bookstores, florists, art supply stores, toy stores and sewing stores. The last is particularly important for all those home mask makers out there. We will also be easing restrictions on medical care, such as nonessential surgeries and nonurgent ambulatory care visits. In all of these hopeful steps, we continue to put Community Health first. That means that we will keep a close eye, as we have throughout this pandemic, a close eye on the data so that we can move forward or pause or even increase restrictions depending on the spread of the virus in the community. It also means that we must support businesses and other entities with clear guidelines so that they can operate as safely as possible for their workers and customers and our community as a whole. In that effort, the department of Public Health has issued new directives to businesses that are allowed to operate now, such as restaurants, Delivery Services and Grocery Stores. These directives will also apply to the expanding group of businesses that we anticipate will be able to reopen to a limited capacity next week. And just to be very clear, the restaurants are operating under very limited capacity now. We are working with the Mayors Office of economic and Workforce Development and Economic Recovery Task force to reach out to businesses and make sure that they are informed about the guidelines and can prepare. Here are five highlights of what businesses need to do to be safe in the current coronavirus environment. One, create a health and safety plan. Two, ensure social distancing and Face Covering at work. Three, provide the proper equipment and cleaning materials, including hand sanitizing and handwashing. Four, protect customers by marking off sixfeet areas and cleaning hightouch surfaces and, five, ending selfservice of food items and the handling of produce without purchasing it. Some of these rules will change the way we currently shop and interact at work, or at least the way we used to shop and interact at work. This will take some adjustment, but believe me, they are worth it to keep everyone safe and allow for the economy to start to reopen. All of the new Health Directives are posted on the department of Public Health website, on our coronavirus page. And as we look forward to next monday, may 18, and the potential for some businesses to reopen safely for curbedside pickup, we will also be keeping a close eye on the data. Specifically we will be looking at hospitalizations of covidpositive patients as our metric of whether to move forward with expanded Curbside Pickup and takeout next week. This is a key metric. Since april 6, our hospitalization numbers have ranged from 70 to 94 patients. The curve is indeed flat. And as the mayor mentioned, it is not decreasing substantially. We have not yet seen a substantial downward trend. Today there are 71 people hospitalized in San Francisco with covid19. If we can keep within the range for the next week, we anticipate allowing the next group of businesses to reopen. If we have a sustained increase in hospitalizations, we will evaluate where the new cases are coming from and shift our focus there. The reason is an increase in hospitalizati hospitalizations will tell us that the virus started gaining strength in our community about two weeks ago and that more people are starting to get very sick and require hospital care. And there are data to show when our behavior allows the virus to spread, we see spikes in infections. We are seeing spikes in infections in Southern California commensurate with when the beaches became crowded. We have seen spikes of infections when people have gone to large gatherings at churches or birthday parties. We must be vigilant and we must continue our social distancing, our wearing mask and our emphasis on testing. If indeed our rate of hospitalizations start to climb substantially, it may not be safe to continue to reopen. Of course i hope i very much hope that that does not happen. And i am looking forward to picking up some books and gifts for myself. But we must proceed cautiously and maintain our gains. We will be giving more information this week about what the path to recovery will look like for San Francisco. The community, our community, your community, has been so vigilant and so effective in slowing down the spread of the virus. But you may well be asking where is this all headed . What will the new normal be like . This is a complex question, and we are in uncharted territory. We are in discussions with other counties and municipalities, as well as the state, about that very topic. We are working hard at all levels of San Francisco government and with community and Business Partners to develop our local road map. Again, following the science, the data and the facts. For now i can emphasize that we will all have an Important Role to play. You can think of these roles in groups of three. As community members, there are three key things you, your family, your friends can do. Physical distancing, Face Covering and testing. Testing if you are working outside your home. You should get tested, even if you do not have symptoms. As city and Public Health leaders, there are three critical things that we pledge to do. Testing. We will continue to expand testing toward our goal of universal access. Number two, outbreak detection. We will continue to build our Public Health reporting and Monitoring Systems to improve our ability to predict and respond to the virus more quickly. And three, contact tracing, which includes case detection and contact investigation and support for isolation and quarantine to reduce exposure and spread of the virus. If we all do these things, the three things you can do, the three things that government and the Health Department will do, we can accomplish the following three things. Decreased transmission. We have the power to reduce disease and death. We have that power. Number two, increased safety and confidence. We will see more opening up of society and people knowing how to act in the safest ways possible. And number three, that will lead to economic recovery, a goal we all share. Together we can do this, and we must do this together for it to be successful. San francisco, i cant thank you enough for your perseverance, dedication and ongoing commitment to each other, your neighbors and the community. This city has always been a very special place, and it is even more so now. This pandemic, as difficult as it is, has truly brought out the best of us, and i thank you for that and the ongoing commitment to that as we move forward together. Thank you. Scott will make some remarks, and i want to thank him for his incredible work and his teams efforts on the front lines in helping us manage this pandemic. Chief scott . Good afternoon. Everyone, im chief bill scott of the San Francisco Police Department, and as always, i want to first start off by expressing my immense gratitude to our mayor, london breed, and our director of Public Health, dr. Grant colfax for their outstanding leadership during this Public Health crisis. Im gonna start my remarks by piggybacking on what dr. Colfax just stated with my thanks to the residents of our city in San Francisco. I want to expand on the fact that without the cooperation and voluntary compliance of the people of our city, we probably wouldnt be doing as well as we are, so thank you again for our support and your voluntary compliance. And thats not to say we dont have challenges, because we do, and ill go into that in a minute, but i want to begin my remarks, again, with thanking those people that are, number one, following the Public Health orders. And number two, abiding by the law. And oftentimes its my job as your chief of police to get up and in front of you and report statistics on people who are breaking the law, but its also very important to say thank you to the people who abide by the law, because without that, our society would be in chaos, and we do understand that and thank you for abiding by the law. On that note, you know, this weekend we anticipated that it would be a busy weekend as far as more people out, and we had a team of officers, along with our cadets and volunteers, and we werent the only City Department out, but i want to speak of what we did this weekend in that regard. We worked and focused on 25 parks, one of which was dolores park, and i know the mayor has made comments about dolores park, and weve had some challenges there with the number of people wanting to enjoy that beautiful park and enjoy the beautiful weather. And i want to again thank the people who enjoyed our parks across the city over the weekend. What we are seeing is people are getting out to get fresh air, to get exercise, to enact or interact with another human being, and thats a good thing, but i want to go back and remind everybody of just the basics. We still need to have people keep that six feet of social distance if you are not with people who live in your household. We still need you to wear Face Coverings when youre out and youre doing your business. If youre not exercising or in the act of exercising, walking, jogging, bicycling, wear your Face Coverings. And we still need you all when you get home to wash your hands frequently to prevent the spread of this virus. Now our team of volunteers and officers and cadets were out this weekend in the parks. We issued we gave out 68 or 58, im sorry, 58 Face Coverings or masks. There were over 100 informal admonishments or warnings to people who were enjoying the park, and i will say almost by and large everybody who was warned informally came into compliance. So we want to thank you for that, and i want to thank you personally for that, because that is what makes this work. Well continue to focus on those efforts. We know as this goes along and the further that we get into this were now at nine weeks and going into our tenth week, people are anxious. People have anxiety. People want to get out and interact with other people. People want to do their business. Businesses have sacrificed immensely, and we want to thank all those Business Owners that have sacrificed to make this work. I know as the Health Orders evolve and as we continue to go into different phases of this pandemic and attempt to reopen to get things back as much as we can to normal, there are a lot of questions. And with some, there is a lot of confusion, and thats why we follow the compliance model that we follow of starting with education, and we will continue to do that. There were a lot of questions about how many cites we write or how many people were arrested. Fortunately we have not had to arrested anybody, but we have issued some citations, but we start with education first, and thats really important now as we begin to go into additional phases and attempts to reopen. Things change almost weekly, and its really important that we do our part, your Police Department and your Police Officers, to educate the community for those, as the mayor mentioned and as dr. Colfax mentioned, who may not be watching the news, who may not have access to internet or who may just not have heard that things have evolved. So thats why we start with education, and i must say by and large we have been very successful with this model, and we will continue to use this model of education, then warnings or admonishment, and for those folks that still refuse to abide by the Health Orders, we do have the citation as a last resort. So thats been successful, and ill get to kind of where we are on those numbers in a second. But again, thank you all for the cooperation and for making our city a model, as the mayor said. We are far better off than many other cities, and thats a good thing, and thats because of you all. So now ill get to the statistics of those who have not followed the Public Health directives, and then ill get into a little bit of our Crime Statistics for the week and for the year. As far as citations, we have issued a total of 23 citations since the initial Public Health order went into effect, and the breakdown is 13 businesses and 10 individuals. That 23 is an increase of one. The last time i reported we had 22, so thats an increase of one, and that additional citation was for a business. We have had a total of 105 formal admonishments, and the formal admonishment, what i mean by that, the formal warnings are those warnings thats your last warning before we have to come back and issue a citation. And that breakdown is 58 businesses and 47 individuals. Thats two higher than my last report of 103 in my last report. And i would like to say in addition to that, just like this weekend when our volunteers and our officers and our cadets were out in the park, they issued or had engagement with over 100 i think the number was about 138 individuals where those were informal warnings, where people were asked to either wear Face Covering or create some social distance, and they complied on the spot. So thats what were seeing by and large, and for those individuals where we do have to go back after youve been warned, particularly formally warned, we have issued citations, and we will continue to do that if we have to, but we hope we dont have to. As far as our Crime Statistics, i want to go into our weektoweek, which i have reported on consistently, and also our yearoveryear Crime Statistics. Overall the news is good, a 22. 5 decrease in part one Violent Crimes over this past week, that means 16 fewer Violent Crimes. In terms of property crime, we had a 33. 6 decrease in property crimes which equates to 186 fewer crimes for a total, part one, or serious crimes, that decrease was 32 . This is the week over the prior week. And that equates to 202 fewer crimes than the prior week. As far as our yeartodate Crime Statistics, we are at an 8. 6 crime decrease in part one Violent Crime which is 166 crimes fewer than this time last year. Property crime were at a 13 decrease in property crime which equates to 2,125 fewer property crimes over this time last year. And our total part one crime decrease is at 12. 4 , which equates to 2,291 fewer crimes than this time 2019. I will say, though, although we are pleased to have a decrease in crime, we do understand that part of the reason is that there are just fewer people out on the streets, fewer victims, fewer opportunities. And we want to remain vigilant when we do reopen to make sure that we can reopen without people being victimized. So we will have a presence, as we always have during this pandemic. We will continue that, and well make adjustments as we have to. I want to encourage everyone to continue to report crime, because thats part of this analysis, is you have to report it for us to know about it and to respond to it. So call 911 for Violent Crimes. If its a crime in progress, also call 911. If its a nonviolent property crime thats already occurred, you can call our nonemergency number at 4155530123. Thats 4155530123. Also you can call 311 or use our San Francisco Police Department website at sanfranciscopolice. Org to either request crime reports or report crimes that qualify for online reporting. We still have a report callin center that we stood up during this pandemic thats been very effective, so makes us more efficient in allowing our public to report crimes, and that will be ongoing. Lastly, i want to close with just the basics. As dr. Colfax has said, as our mayor has said, we need everybody if you must go out to conduct essential business or to just get exercise, please wear your Face Covering. Maintain a distance of six feet between you and anybody who is not living in your household, and when you return home, or even if you dont return home, whenever you can, wash your hands frequently. These prevention efforts, although basic, will help prevent the spread of covid19 and get us back to normal quicker. So please continue to cooperate and well continue to ask for your voluntary compliance, and we need to flatten the curve and beat this covid19 virus. So i will thank you and, again, we appreciate everybodys support. And with that, i think i have a few questions and then we will open it up to the questions for everybody else. We will begin questions for questions for chief scott. Chief scott, this question is from dan kerman. Have any businesses defied the current order and reopened on friday and over the weekend . If so, will this be allowed to continue . Over the weekend we did not have any we had one additional citation, as i stated. We didnt look, by and large, we are seeing really good compliance with our business community. We have thousands of businesses in this city, so its not to say that every single business has been checked, but we said from day one, on march 17, when we started this, that we would be proactive in going out to ensure that businesses were doing what was asked of them, and by and large that has happened. On those occasions where we had to go back and we had 13 examples of such, we have cited. After the warning has been given, and some of those 13 were cited on the first attempt after an inordinate amount of education was out in the public realm. So the answer to the question, though, is by and large we are seeing compliance, and we hope to continue that, and thats why i get up here and ask for voluntary compliance, and thats why we give warnings. Thats why we educate, and thats why we have this progressive pathway, to make sure we do this in a fair and just manner, but we need to get it done, and we need to make sure that people are compliant. The next question is from kathy novak. During the shelterinplace order, are any exceptions being made to the law requiring stores in San Francisco to accept cash . The ordnance about accepting cash is still active. It has not been suspended. I want to remind everybody what the spirit of this is. Its about equity. Not everybody has a credit card or an atm card, and people need essential services, and this is about equity, making sure that everybody in our city has access to what they need. So that is the spirit of this. So if there are people who are not abiding by that, the proper venue is to call our nonemergency line if you need a Police Officer to help you resolve that. Thats 4155530123. Okay, the next questions are for dr. Grant colfax, San Francisco department of Public Health. Dr. Colfax, the first question is from abc 7 news. Should san franciscans be concerned about people traveling to the city or the bay area from other counties and states that are less restrictive . Dr. Grant colfax so i think right now travel, its best for people to limit their travel to essential travel. This is not the time to go on a trip for recreation, a vacation, even to visit family and friends. I think its very important per my prior comments that we focus on focusing on the stayathome order, wearing Face Coverings, and social distancing. I think that with regard to people coming in to San Francisco from other areas, its also very important that we as a community create norms where the facial covering, the social distancing is encouraged and enforced. So i would really ensure that we do this, whether people are in San Francisco as part of their residency, whether theyre coming in to work in San Francisco, or if people are coming to travel here, that again, the social distancing, the facial mask are very important. And again, to limit travel to all but the most essential travel. Is the department of Public Health monitoring people from coming outside the area . So what we are monitoring is looking at the overall activity of the area, how Much Movement there is in terms of cellphone activity, cars and so forth. And whats really quite important about this is that it clearly shows that before we put more of these restrictions in place, the more people moved around, the more the virus was transmitted, and we see basically a clear correlation between activity in the public realms with transmission of the virus, which is why its so important as we gradually consider and put in guidelines around reopening that we are doing it in a very safe way, again with social distancing, with facial coverings, and really following the data and monitoring the activity in the city, as well as, of course, the very important metrics around the number of cases and the number of cases hospitalized in the city. The next question is from ctvu. The Trump Administration is calling for testing of people residing and working in Nursing Homes. How are San Franciscos efforts progressing . Well, were way ahead of the Trump Administration. We require are now requiring that Nursing Homes test staff and residents in Nursing Homes on a routine basis. That health order was issued last week, and we last week started testing staff and residents at laguna honda hospital, and this will be extended to Nursing Homes across the city. Very important, this is routine testing, testing people regardless of symptoms on a regular basis. Testing in the case of people having symptoms, whether staff or residents will also of course continue. Will the department of Public Health test private facilities to monitor covid19 for infection . The nursing home facilities . Yes. So the nursing home facilities in the city, with the exception of laguna honda, which is under direct auspices of the Health Department, the Nursing Homes are regulated and overseen by the state. Right now our focus is on doing conducting good Public Health interventions, and we are supporting those facilities Going Forward in scaling up their Testing Capacity. So the Health Department will be working very closely with those private homes and with the state to ensure that there are testing protocols made available, that in certain instances that materials and Technical Assistance is provided. And the intent is that over time these facilities will be able to conduct testing either on their own or through a third party or with ongoing assistance by the Health Department in a way that is sustainable and reinforceable. Last question is from mission local. Julie and mark. How much has homeless cases risen since last week . How many are severe or requiring hospitalization . So on the number of people diagnosed with covid19, of the 1,954 positive cases in the city, and this is with the thousands of tests that have been done, 8 or 156 people report experience homelessness. This was defined as this is defined as selfreporting homelessness, being included in a shelter outbreak or indicating homelessness or a shelter location as matched by Health Department records. And as i said, unfortunately one person who experienced homelessness has died of covid19related causes. Thank you. This concludes our questions for todays press conference. Shop and dine on the 49 promotes local businesses and challenges residents to do shopping and dining within the 49 square miles of San Francisco by supporting local Services Within neighborhood. We help San Francisco remain unique, successful and vibrant. Where will you shop and dine in the 49 . San francisco owes the charm to the unique character of the neighborhood comer hall district. Each corridor has its own personality. Our neighborhoods are the engine of the city. You are putting money and support back to the community you live in and you are helping Small Businesses grow. It is more environmentally friendly. Shopping local is very important. I have had relationships with my local growers for 30 years. By shopping here and supporting us locally, you are also supporting the growers of the flowers, they are fresh and they have a price point that is not imported. It is really good for everybody. Shopping locally is crucial. Without that support, Small Business cant survive, and if we lose Small Business, that diversity goes away, and, you know, it would be a shame to see that become a thing of the past. It is important to dine and shop locally. It allows us to maintain traditions. It makes the neighborhood. I think San Francisco should shop local as much as they can. The retail marketplace is changes. We are trying to have people on the floor who can talk to you and help you with products you are interested in buying, and help you with exploration to try things you have never had before. The fish business, you think it is a piece of fish and fisherman. There are a lot of people working in the fish business, between wholesalers and fishermen and bait and tackle. At the retail end, we about a lot of people and it is good for everybody. Shopping and dining locally is so important to the community because it brings a tighter fabric to the community and allows the Business Owners to thrive in the community. We see more Small Businesses going away. We need to shop locally to keep the Small Business alive in San Francisco. Shop and dine in the 49 is a cool initiative. You can see the banners in the streets around town. It is great. Anything that can showcase and legitimize Small Businesses is a wonderful thing. [ ]derful thing. I am the supervisor of district one. I am sandra lee fewer. [ ] i moved to the Richmond District in 1950 mine. I was two years old. I moved from chinatown and we were one of the first asian families to move out here. [ ] when my mother decided to buy that house, nobody knew where it was. It seems so far away. For a long time, we were the only chinese family there but we started to see the areas of growth to serve a larger chinese population. The stress was storage of the birthplace of that. My father would have to go to chinatown for dim sum and i remember one day he came home and said, there is one here now. It just started to grow very organically. It is the same thing with the russian population, which is another very large ethnic group in the Richmond District. As russia started to move in, we saw more russian stores. So parts of the richmond is very concentrated with the Russian Community and immigrant Russian Community, and also a chinese immigrant community. [ ] i think as living here in the richmond, we really appreciate the fact that we are surrounded three natural barriers. They are beautiful barriers. The presidio which gives us so many trails to walk through, ocean beach, for families to just go to the beach and be in the Pacific Ocean. We also also have a National Park service. We boarded the Golden Gate National Recreation Area so there is a lot of activity to do in the summer time you see people with bonfires. But really families enjoying the beach and the Pacific Ocean during the rest of the time of year. [ ] and Golden Gate Park where we have so many of our treasures here. We have the tea garden, the museum and the academy of sciences. Not to mention the wonderful playgrounds that we have here in richmond. This is why i say the richmond is a great place for families. The theatre is a treasure in our neighborhood. It has been around for a very long time. Is one of our two neighborhood theatres that we have here. I moved here when i was 1959 when i was two years old. We would always go here. I love these neighborhood theatres. It is one of the places that has not only a landmark in the Richmond District, but also in San Francisco. Small theatres showing one or two films. A unique they are unique also to the neighborhood and San Francisco. Where we are today is the heart of the Richmond District. With what is unique is that it is also Small Businesses. There is a different retail here it is mom and pop opening up businesses. And providing for the neighborhood. This is what we love about the streets. The cora door starts on clement street and goes all the way down to the end of clement where you will see Small Businesses even towards 32nd. At the core of it is right here between here and 20 tenth avenue. When we see this variety of stores offered here, it is very unique then of the any other part of San Francisco. There is traditional irish music which you dont get hardly anywhere in San Francisco. Some places have this long legacy of serving ice cream and being a hangout for families to have a sunday afternoon ice cream. And then also, we see Grocery Stores. And also these restaurants that are just new here, but also thriving. [ ] we are seeing restaurants being switched over by hand, new owners, but what we are seeing is a vibrancy of clement street still being recaptured within new businesses that are coming in. That is a really great thing to see. I dont know when i started to shop here, but it was probably a very, very long time ago. I like to cook a lot but i like to cook chinese food. The market is the place i like to come to once a year. Once i like about the market as it is very affordable. It has Fresh Produce and fresh meat. Also, seafood. But they also offer a large selection of condiments and sauces and noodles. A variety of rice that they have is tremendous. I dont thank you can find a variety like that anywhere else. Hi. I am kevin wong. I am the manager. In 1989 we move from chinatown to Richmond District. We have opened for a bit, over 29 years. We carry products from thailand, japan, indonesia, vietnam, singapore and india. We try to keep Everything Fresh daily. So a customer can get the best out a bit. Normally during crab season in november, this is the first place i hit. Because they have really just really fresh crab. This is something my family really likes for me to make. Also, from my traditional chinese food, i love to make a kale soup. They cut it to the size they really want. I am probably here once a week. Im very familiar with the aisles and they know everyone who is a cashier cashier here i know when people come into a market such as this, it looks like an asian supermarkets, which it is and sometimes it can be intimidating. We dont speak the language and many of the labels are in chinese, you may not know what to buy or if it is the proper ingredients for the recipe are trying to make. I do see a lot of people here with a recipe card or sometimes with a magazine and they are looking for specific items. The staff here is very helpful. I speak very little chinese here myself. Thinks that im not sure about, i asked the clerk his and i say is this what i need . Is this what i should be making . And they actually really helped me. They will bring me to the aisle and say this is battery. They are very knowledgeable. Very friendly. I think they are here to serve not only the Asian Community but to serve all communities in the Richmond District and in San Francisco. [ ] what is wonderful about living here is that even though our july is a very foggy and overcast, best neighborhood, the sleepy part outside on the west side is so rich with history, but also with all the amenities that are offered. [ ] what were trying to approach is bringing more diversity to our food. Its not just the old european style food. We are seeing a lot of influences, and all of this is because of our students. All we ask is make it flavorful. [ ] we are the first twoyear Culinary Hospitality School in the united states. The first year was 1936, and it was started by two graduates from cornell. Im a graduate of this program, and very proud of that. So students can expect to learn under the three degrees. Culinary Arts Management degree, Food Service Management degree, and Hotel Management degree. Were not a cooking school. Even though were not teaching you how to cook, were teaching you how to manage, how to supervise employees, how to manage a hotel, and plus youre getting an associate of science degree. My name is vince, and im a faculty member of the hospitality arts and Culinary School here in San Francisco. This is my 11th year. The policemrogram is very, ver in what this industry demands. Cooking, health, safety, and sanitation issues are included in it. Its quite a complete program to prepare them for whats happening out in the real world. The first time i heard about this program, i was working in a restaurant, and the sous chef had graduated from this program. He was very young to be a sous chef, and i want to be like him, basically, in the future. This program, its awesome. Its another world when youre here. Its another world. You get to be who you are, a person get to be who they are. You get to explore Different Things, and then, you get to explore and they encourage you to bring your background to the kitchen, too. Ive been in the program for about a year. Twoyear program, and im about halfway through. Before, i was studying behavioral genetics and dance. I had few injuries, and i couldnt pursue the things that i needed to to dance, so i pursued my other passion, cooking. When i stopped dance, i was deprived of my creative outlet, and cooking has been that for me, specifically pastry. The good thing is we have students everywhere from places like the ritz to we have kids from every area. Facebook and google. Kids from everywhere. They are all over the bay area, and theyre thriving. My name is jeff, and im a coowner of nopa restaurant, nopalito restaurant in San Francisco. I attended city college of San Francisco, the culinary arts program, where it was called hotel and restaurant back then in the early 90s. Nopalito on broderick street, its based on no specific region in mexico. All our masa is hand made. We cook our own corn in house. Everything is pretty much hand made on a daily basis, so day and night, were making hand made tortillas, carnitas, salsas. A lot of love put into this. [ ] used to be very easy to define casual dining, fine dining, quick service. Now, its shades of gray, and were trying to define that experience through that spectrum of service. Fine dining calls into white table cloths. The cafeteria is Large Production kitchen, understanding vast production kitchens, the googles and the facebooks of the world that have those kitypes of kitchens. And the ideas that change every year, again, its the notion and the venue. One of the things i love about vince is one of our outlets is a concept restaurant, and he changes the concept every year to show students how to do a startup restaurant. Its been a pizzeria, a taco bar. Its been a mediterranean bar, its been a noodle bar. People choose ccsf over other hospitality programs because the industry recognizes that we instill the work ethic. We, again, serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Other culinary hospitality programs may open two days a week for breakfast service. Were open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner five days a week. The menus always interesting. They change it every semester, maybe more. Theres always a good variety of foods. The preparation is always beautiful. The students are really sincere, and they work so hard here, and theyre so proud of their work. Ive had people coming in to town, and i, like, bring them here for a special treat, so its more, like, not so much every day, but as often as i can for a special treat. When i have my interns in their final semester of the program go out in the industry, 80 to 90 of the students get hired in the industry, well above the industry average in the culinary program. We do have internals continually coming into our restaurants from city college of San Francisco, and most of the time that people doing internships with us realize this is what they want to do for a living. We hired many interns into employees from our restaurants. My partner is also a graduate of city college. So my goal is actually to travel and try to do some pastry in maybe italy or france, along those lines. I actually have developed a few connections through this program in italy, which i am excited to support. Im thinking about going to go work on a cruise ship for about two, three year so i can save some money and then hopefully venture out on my own. Yeah, i want to go back to china. I want to bring something that i learned here, the french cooking, the western system, back to china. So we want them to have a full toolkit. Were trying to make them ready for the world out there. Hi. Im Chris Mathers with channel 19, and youre watching coping with covid19. Today, im going to be talking about exercising during the pandemic. First, im going to tell you what ive been doing, and then im going to be checking in with some friends and family. Ive been riding my bike. All i take is a pair of gloves and a mask if i come into contact with anyone. I try to ride my bike during the time im sheltering in place. I try to ride for at least 30 minutes. Surfing is my other regular outdoor activity. California state guidelines recommend you dont drive more than ten minutes for a spot to exercise, and although im close to ocean beach, im a bit wary to go there, so im using the time to do some maintenance. Filling in gouges and dings, and sanding it down. Im also repairing holes in my suit. Fellow sfgovtv producer chris took his first yoga lesson a couple of years ago and used to go to a class regularly before the lockdown. He and his wife set up a space in their garage for exercising. This routine is from an online class by power yoga. Deann and andy have been using the ping pong table that they bought off craigslist and set it up in their back yard. Ellie has been using this home gym to stay fit. It has everything she needed. And lastly, if the weather is bad outside, you can exercise your mind by doing a puzzle, sudoku, or just by reading a good book. Heres a quick recap. Since i started this episode, the guidelines have changed. For instance, jack may be able to go golfing with some restrictions. Go to sf. Gov to get the most uptodate [ ] i just dont know that you can find a neighborhood in the city where you can hear music stands and take a ride on the low rider down the street. It is an experience that you cant have anywhere else in San Francisco. [ ] [ ] district nine is a in the southeast portion of the city. We have four neighborhoods that i represent. St. Marys park has a completely unique architecture. Very distinct feel, and it is a very close to holly park which is another beautiful park in San Francisco. The Bernal Heights district is unique in that we have the hell which has one of the best views in all of San Francisco. There is a swinging hanging from a tree at the top. It is as if you are swinging over the entire city. There are two unique aspects. It is considered the fourth chinatown in San Francisco. Sixty of the residents are of chinese ancestry. The second unique, and fun aspect about this area is it is the garden district. There is a lot of urban agriculture and it was where the city grew the majority of the flowers. Not only for San Francisco but for the region. And of course, it is the location in mclaren park which is the citys second biggest park after golden gate. Many people dont know the neighborhood in the first place if they havent been there. We call it the best neighborhood nobody has ever heard our. Every neighborhood in district nine has a very special aspect. Where we are right now is the Mission District. The Mission District is a very special part of our city. You smell the tacos at the [speaking spanish] and they have the best latin pastries. They have these shortbread cookies with caramel in the middle. And then you walk further down and you have sunrise cafe. It is a place that you come for the incredible food, but also to learn about what is happening in the neighborhood and how you can help and support your community. Twentyfourth street is the birthplace of the movement. We have over 620 murals. It is the largest outdoor Public Gallery in the country and possibly the world. You can find so much Political Engagement park next to so much incredible art. Its another reason why we think this is a cultural district that we must preserve. [ ] it was formed in 2014. We had been an organization that had been around for over 20 years. We worked a lot in the neighborhood around life issues. Most recently, in 2012, there were issues around gentrification in the neighborhood. So the idea of forming the cultural district was to help preserve the history and the culture that is in this neighborhood for the future of families and generations. In the past decade, 8,000 latino residents in the Mission District have been displaced from their community. We all know that the rising cost of living in San Francisco has led to many people being displaced. Lower and middle income all over the city. Because it there is richness in this neighborhood that i also mentioned the fact it is flat and so accessible by trip public transportation, has, has made it very popular. Its a struggle for us right now, you know, when you get a lot of development coming to an area, a lot of new people coming to the area with different sets of values and different culture. There is a lot of struggle between the existing community and the newness coming in. There are some things that we do to try to slow it down so it doesnt completely erase the communities. We try to have developments that is more in tune with the community and more Equitable Development in the area. You need to meet with and gain the support and find out the needs of the neighborhoods. The people on the businesses that came before you. You need to dialogue and show respect. And then figure out how to bring in the new, without displacing the old. [ ] i hope we can reset a lot of the mission that we have lost in the last 20 years. So we will be bringing in a lot of folks into the neighborhoods pick when we do that, there is a demand or, you know, certain types of services that pertain more to the local community and workingclass. Back in the day, we looked at mission street, and now it does not look and feel anything like mission street. This is the last stand of the latino concentrated arts, culture and cuisine and people. We created a cultural district to do our best to conserve that feeling. That is what makes our city so cosmopolitan and diverse and makes us the envy of the world. We have these unique neighborhoods with so much cultural presence and learnings, that we want to preserve. [ ] it did take a village. I was really lucky when i was 14 years old to get an internship. The difference that it made for me is i had a job, but there were other people who didnt have a job, who, unfortunately, needed money. And they were shown to commit illegal acts to get money. That is what i want to prevent. [ ] today we are here to officially kick off the first class of opportunities for all. [applause]. Opportunities for all is a program that mayor breed launched in october of 2018. It really was a vision of mayor breed to get to all of the young people in San Francisco, but with an intention to focus on young people that have typically not being able to access opportunities such as internships or workbased learning opportunities. Money should never be a barrier to your ability to succeed in life and that is what this program is about. Theres always these conversations about young people not being prepared and not having experience for work and if they dont get an opportunity to work, then they cannot gain the experience that they need. This is really about investing in the future talent pool and getting them the experience that they need. It is good for everyone because down the road we will need future mechanics, future pilots, future bankers, future whatever they may be in any industry. This is the pipe on we need to work with. We need to start developing talent, getting people excited about careers, opening up those pathways and frankly giving opportunities out there that would normally not be presented. [ ] the way that it is organized is there are different points of entry and different ways of engagement for the young person and potential employers. Young people can work in cohorts or in groups and thats really for people that have maybe never had job experience or who are still trying to figure out what they want to do and they can explore. And in the same way, it is open for employers to say, you know what, i dont think we are ready to host an intern yearround are all summer, but that they can open up their doors and do site visits or tours or panels or conversations. And then it runs all the way up to the opportunity for young people to have longterm employment, and work on a project and be part of the employee base. Something new, to get new experience and meet people and then you are getting paid for it you are getting paid for doing that. It is really cool. I starting next week, i will be a freshman. [cheers and applause] two of the things i appreciate about this program was the amazing mentorship in the job experience that i had. I am grateful for this opportunity. Thank you. Something i learned at airbnb is how to network and how important it is to network because it is not only what you know, but also who you know to get far in life. During this program, i learned basic coding languages, had a had to identify the main components and how to network on a corporate level. It is also helping me accumulate my skills all be going towards my College Tuition where i will pursue a major in computer science. For myself, being that i am an actual residential realtor, it was great. If anybody wants to buy a house, let me know. Whenever. [applause] it is good. I got you. It was really cool to see the commercial side and think about the process of developing property and Different Things that i can explore. Opportunities for all was a great opportunity for all. We were aiming to have 1,000 young people register and we had over 2,000 people register and we were able to place about between 50 and did. We are still getting the final numbers of that. Over several weeks, we were able to have students participate in Investment Banking they were able to work with our team, or technology team, our engineering 20 we also gave them lessons around the industry, around financial literacy. There are 32,000 young people ages 16 and 24 living in San Francisco. And imagine if we can create an opera skin it just opportunity for all program for every young person that lives in public housing, affordable housing, low income communities. It is all up to you to make that happen. We have had really great response from employers and they have been talking about it with other employers, so we have had a lot of interest for next year to have people sign on. We are starting to figure out how to stay connected to those young people and to get prepared to make sure we can get all 2400 or so that registered. We want to give them placement and what it looks like if they get more. Lets be honest, there is always a shortage of good talent in any industry, and so this is a real great career path. For potential sponsors who might be interested in supporting opportunities for all , there is an opportunity to make a difference in our city. This is a really thriving, booming economy, but not for everyone. This is a way to make sure that everyone gets to benefit from the great place that San Francisco is and that we are building pathways for folks to be able to stay here and that they feel like they will belong. Just do it. Sign up for it. [ ] [ ] as latinos we are unified in some ways and incredibly diverse in others and this exhibit really is an exploration of nuance in how we present those ideas. Our debts are not for sale. A piece about sanctuary and how his whole family served in the army and its a long Family Tradition and these people that look at us as foreigners, we have been here and we are part of america, you know, and we had to reinforce that. I have been cure rating here for about 18 year. We started with a table top, candle, flower es, and a picture and people reacted to that like it was the monna lisa. The most important tradition as it relates to the show is idea of making offering. In Traditional Mexican alters, you see food, candy, drinks, cigarettes, the things that the person that the offerings where being made to can take with them into the next word, the next life. Keeps u. S us connects to the people who have passed and because family is so important to us, that Community Dynamic makes it stick and makes it visible and it humanizes it and makes it present again. When i first started doing it back in 71, i wanted to do something with ritual, ceremony and history and you know i talked to my partner ross about the research and we opened and it hit a cord and people loved it. I think the line between engaging everyone with our culture and appropriating it. I think it goes back to asking people to bring their visions of what it means to honor the dead, and so for us its not asking us to make mexican altars if they are not mexican, its really to share and expand our vision of what it means to honor the dead. People are very respectful. I can show you this year alone of people who call tol ask is it okay if we come, we are hawaii or asian or we are this. What should we wear . What do you recommend that we do . They say oh, you know, we want a four day of the dead and its all hybrid in this country. What has happened are paper cuts, its so hybrid. It has spread to mexico from the bay area. We have influence on a lot of people, and im proud of it. A lot of tim times they dont represent we represent a lot of cultures with a lot of different perspectives and beliefs. I can see the city changes and its scary. When we first started a lot of people freaked out thinking we were a cult and things like that, but we went out of our way to also make it educational through outreach and that is why we started doing the prosession in 1979. As someone who grew up attending the yearly processions and who has seen them change incrementally every year into kind of what they are now, i feel in many ways that the cat is out of the bag and there is no putting the genie back into the bottle in how the wider public accesses the day of the dead. I have been through three different generations of children who were brought to the procession when they were very young that are now bringing their children or grandchildren. In the 80s, the processions were just kind of electric. Families with their homemade visuals walking down the street in San Francisco. Service so much more intimate and personal and so much more rooted in kind of a Family Practice of a very strong cultural practice. It kind of is what it is now and it has gone off in many Different Directions but i will always love the early days in the 80s where it was so intimate and son sofa millial. Our goal is to rescue a part of the culture that was a part that we could invite others to join in there there by where we invite the person to come help us rescue rescue it also. Thats what makes it unique. You have to know how to approach this changing situation, its exhausting and i have seen how it has affected everybody. Whats happening in mission and the relationship with the police, well its relevant and its relevant that people think about it that day of the dead is not just sugar skulls and paper flowers and candles, but its become a nondenominational tradition that people celebrate. Our culture is about color and family and if that is not present in your life, there is just no meaning to it you know . We have artists as black and brown people that are in direct danger of the direct policies of the trump a administration and i think how each of the artists has responsibilitie responded ss interesting. The common [ ] [ ] so i grew up in cambridge, massachusetts and i was very fortunate to meet my future wife, now my wife while we were both attending graduate school at m. I. T. , studying urban planning. So this is her hometown. So, we fell in love and moved to her city. [ ] [ ] i was introduced to this part of town while working on a campaign for gavin, who is running for mayor. I was one of the organizers out here and i met the people and i fell in love with them in the neighborhood. So it also was a place in the city that at the time that i could afford to buy a home and i wanted to own my own home. This is where we laid down our roots like many people in this neighborhood and we started our family and this is where we are going to be. I mean we are the part of San Francisco. Its the two neighborhoods with the most children under the age of 18. Everybody likes to talk about how San Francisco is not familyfriendly, there are not a lot of children and families. We have predominately Single Family homes. As i said, people move here to buy their first home, maybe with multiple family members or multiple families in the same home and they laid down their roots. [ ] its different because again, we have little small storefronts. We dont have Light Industrial space or space where you can build highrises or large Office Buildings. So the tech boom will never hit our neighborhood in that way when it comes to jobs. Turkey, cheddar, avocado, lettuce and mayo, and little bit of mustard. Thats my usual. Mike is the owner, born and bred in the neighborhood. He worked in the drugstore forever. He saved his money and opened up his own spot. Were always going to support home grown businesses and he spent generations living in this part of town, focusing on the family, and the vibe is great and people feel at home. Its like a Little Community gathering spot. This is the part of the city with a small town feel. A lot of mom and pop businesses, a lot of family run businesses. There is a conversation on whether starbucks would come in. I think there are some people that would embrace that. I think there are others that would prefer that not to be. I think we moved beyond that conversation. I think where we are now, we really want to enhance and embrace and encourage the businesses and Small Businesses that we have here. In fact, its more of a mom and pop style business. I think at the end of the day, what were really trying to do is encourage and embrace the diversity and enhance that diversity of businesses we already have. Were the only supervisor in the city that has a permanent district office. A lot of folks use cafes or use offices or different places, but i want out and was able to raise money and open up a spot that we could pay for. Im very fortunate to have that. Hi, good to see you. Just wanted to say hi, hi to the owner, see how hes doing. Everything okay . Yeah. Good. We spend the entire day in the district so we can talk to constituents and talk to Small Businesses. We put money in the budget so you guys could be out here. This is like a commercial corridor, so they focus on cleaning the streets and it made a Significant Impact as you can see. What an improvement it has made to have you guys out here. For sure. We have a significantly diverse neighborhood and population. So i think thats the richness of the mission and it always has been. Its what made me fall in love with this neighborhood and why i love it so much. We are definitely pioneers in airport concession world a world of nationally if not entirely or internationally everybody is cop us right now. The people that were in charge of the retail this is where that began. I didnt think we would have a location at the airport. Weve set the bar higher with the customer commerce. Telling me about the operator and how you go about finding them and they get from being in the city to being in the airport. So first, we actually find a table and once we know what we want a sitdown we go to the neighborhoods in San Francisco and other people seminary of the retail let us know about the rain water and are excited to have the local operators in the airport. We have to go going through the conceive selective process and they award a lease to the restaurant. They are planning on extending. We that you could out the china and the length evens and the travel serve and fourth your minds and its all good. How long for a vendor to move through the process. I would say it could take 80 up to a year from the time we go out to bid until they actually open a restaurant. I dont know what we signed up for but the airport is happy to have us here. And, you know, even taking out the track simple things theres a learning curve with once were here they are helpful. Its an awardwinning program. Were prude of your awards we have won 11 awards the latest for the best overall food address Beverage Program and. Like the oscars laughter . The professional world. Tell me about the future food. All the sb national leases are xooirz and were hoping to bring newer concepts out in San Francisco and what your passengers want. Well, i look forward to the future laughter air are we look fofofofofofofofo todays special guest is claudia dume. Hi. Today, my guest is claudia gorham. Shes the deputy managing director of the real estate dri division at the city and county of San Francisco, and shes my special guest. Thank you for joining us. Thank you very much. I know that your department is the department for managing and renting properties, and also cleaning for the city. How has your department been preparing for the crisis . Well, because our citizens are sheltering in place and our buildings are closed to the general public, a substantial amount of city staff and City Departments are still open and operating and doing city businesses. So we still have to do the cleaning and engineering on the portfolio and things that need to be service. And the other thing is all our workers are Disaster Service workers, so we have been providing the Emergency Operations center with various staffing needs such as drivers of trucks and accounting staff to assist them in this crisis. Have you obtained Additional Space for the city to use during this crisis . Yes. The crisis has actually required numerous transactions, and so we help basically the department of Public Health, the department of Human Services, and the department of homelessness determine where they can put the services that they need. So, for example, if they need a testing site or if they need a building a vacant building to put supplies or if they need to put some trucks, we will help them locate that Office Building or that property based on their factors that they need. We will then contact the landlord or the Property Owner of the space or the Building Owner decides they want, and then, we negotiate the terms that they need, whether its a permit or a lease, well help the City Attorney draft that agreement. Nice. So can you talk about how some of our iconic buildings, such address the palace of such as the palace of fine arts, has been repurposed during the pandemic . Certainly. The city needs as much space as it can use during this pandemic, and the department had to relocate to Moscone South Convention Center so that we could do social distancing as required by both the city and the state. We have hundreds and hundreds of staff people working on this covid19 crisis. All of the department of Public Health and the departments of homelessness and Human Services, including several other hundred people, they need several different sites. They need testing centers, they need shelters for the homeless, those with the covid19 virus, those who need a place to stay after they get out of the hospital. So weve been assisting them with places to stay. You mentioned the palace of fine arts. It has over 100,000 square feet of space. It could it we were going to use it as a shelter, but now, were going to use it for different needs. Were going to negotiate a different lease so that the city can use it for this crisis. Were using the bill graham Civic Auditorium and tfor the deployment of ambulances. The Fire Department needed additional supplies, so were using it for that service. Thats great. I also understand you have a staff of custodians, electricians, janitors and other support workers. How are they helping the city . We could not be more thankful for our civic and engineering staff under our real estate division. They have been working 247 since this crisis began, not only doing their daily responsibilities to keep the public buildings open and operating for the city staff continuing to go into the office but also because once the crisis started, several memos came down as to additional cleanings and how to do disinfecting, and we have to do the c. D. C. S recommendation does. So not only do they do recommendations. So not only do they do their regular cleaning, they are also doing deep cleaning and disinfecting in places like the Public Safety building and the haul of justice. But theyre also going in and doing a deep cleaning and disinfecting after we had a suspected case or a confirmed case of a person having the coronavirus. So theyre going in and doing this every night since this started. Our workers are continuing as laborers to make the buildings safe and secure and maintained. And however we help or however we can help the e. O. C. , we do that. Well, thanks for coming on the show, claudia. Id like to thank you and your entire team on behalf of all the residents of San Francisco for all the work you continue to do. Thank you very much. Its been a pleasure. Thats it for this episode. Well be back with another pandemicrelated episode shortly. This is coping with covid19. Im Chris Mathers. Thanks for watching