Or we broke the ground and this happened really fast. This is pretty amazing. And, you know, to make a park like this to happen, and it is absolutely beautiful it is so amazing. And i am so happy that today finally kids will be able to play in playgrounds all over San Francisco. This is amazing. And ill tell you that the reason why im so happy, because it is hard for children right now. You know, our private schools have opened and our Public Schools havent. Kids are not in school and theyre in front of a screen on a regular basis. And that is not good for them. We know that its not good for them. Its why i have been putting, of course, as much pressure as i can on the public to do our part to wear our masks and to wash our hands and to socially distance ourselves, and as much as we want to be around each other we have to make sacrifices for our children. So that they can go back to school, so they can play in playgrounds, so they can have a wellrounded life, because just imagine this is hard on us as adults. Just imagine how much harder it is on kids. How tough it is, and how we are seeing even now even though were providing devices and internet and other resources to kids, the achievement gap is still growing wide. So we have a lot of work to do. And thats why today is so amazing. And its so exciting. Because its not just that were opening up all of these playgrounds, we have renovated a number of playgrounds in San Francisco, and so kids are going to have an opportunity to just enjoy something new and exciting in the city. I am excited and im grateful to you, phil, and im grateful to the Parks Alliance and the lets play initiative and all of the friends of mersed heights, you will hear from some Community Members here today, because this work happened because of this community. This work happened because you had an incredible leader in supervisor safai. So with strong leadership, with Strong Community support, with collaboration and with years wait decades of advocacy, you have made something incredible happen for the kids of this community, for the kids who are part of this learning hub, who are hoping that this press conference is over as quick as possible so they can come and play in this playground. In fact, it wont bother me if they play on the playground during this conference, just let them have a good time. Because thats where we are now. And what this also does is that it gives us hope. It gives us hope that the time that weve spent in isolation, the time that we have spent, you know, doing what we needed to do during this pandemic, we know that theres a light at the end of the tunnel. We know that good things can happen if we all do our part. And so i really, really, really want to thank all of you so much for being here, so much for continuing to support our parks and the bonds that the voters have always voted to support because thats how this happens. And it is amazing, and its a beautiful day, and, supervisor, you should be so proud of what you have been able to accomplish for this community, unlike never before, and we are so grateful for your strong advocacy and leadership. And, ladies and gentlemen, i want to introduce the district 11 supervisor, supervisor safai. [applause] thank you, madam mayor. This day is super special. Ill just say that. When i first started working in this community, the mantra was, why are we always treated like the forgotten part of San Francisco . Why are we not getting our fair share . Why are the working people why are the hardworking people that get up and make this city run every day treated like this . And if you saw this playground, if you saw this fence, right, phil, it looked like a prison yard fence. It looked like something that you would never want to bring your family to. The same at mersed excuse me, allischalmers that is open today. And they used to ride by that to say look at how awful this park is, will you please give us money, because down the street was daily city and it was shining. But i can say with full confidence that this Community Fought hard, this community advocated and never gave up. I want to give a special shoutout to renard menro, working here tirelessly on a Little Island by himself, using every little resource he has, going into his own pockets often, to make sure that this community had something. I want to thank miss wilma gardner, she couldnt join us today and she lives right across the street there and said i want to see this park rebuilt before i die. Thats what she told me when i met her years ago. And im sorry that she couldnt be here today. Theres a lot of people that couldnt actually physically be here, but all of their blood, sweat and tears went into this. I want to thank Phil Ginsburg and his staff. They have made a commitment to ensuring that the neighborhoods that have the most children, like ours, under the age of 18 get their fair share. And all of their hardworking staff. And i want to especially thank miss mayor, madam, london breed, because every single thing now dont get jealous of the supervisors every single thing that i have brought to her to talk about this community she has said, yes. When we asked her for a new library, she said, yes. When we asked her for a new job center, she funded that and we opened that up a year ago to this day. When we said three years ago not recently but three years ago when we said that the African American community is hurting she said, asha, you dont need to tell me, i know. And i said were investing in this, and she said, yes. So this is one big step forward and i want to thank all of the people that have been involved in this, and all of the people that have dedicated themselves to this, and to all of the children and families that will enjoy this for many, many years to come. This is a new day in district 11, thank you very much. [applause] thank you, supervisor safai. The mayor and the supervisor, you know, eloquently articulated the importance of this moment. Playgrounds are happy, theyre joyous, but for children and their development and their social and Emotional Development and their ability to problem solve and the ability to take risks and the ability to share and to collaborate, this is really serious stuff to get kids back on our playgrounds again. I think that the mayor said it, that kids have taken it on the chin a little bit during this pandemic, lets be honest. And im grateful to the mayor and to supervisor safai and the community for screaming out on behalf of our children. We have to now do the right thing. Playgrounds are open. We need to keep our kids safe and our families safe. So, please yes, there are rules and there are capacity limits. There are we are supposed to continue to social distance and continue to wear a mask, right . Do not eat and drink in these spaces. Lets all do the right things so that our children and San Francisco families can be healthy. So the last point they want to make before bringing up our next speaker yes, thank you, mayor. Okay, do not if you are a parent, when you bring your kid to a playground, do not do this pay attention. No cellphone. Pay attention to where your kids are and how theyre engaging on these spaces. Again, the goal here is only to allow our kids to have the freedom to play and to do it in a healthy way. One last point which is that this should be a reminder as both the mayor and supervisor safai mentioned about the importance of investing in our parks. San francisco has the best park system in the United States of america. It is 150 years old. But we have to continue to invest in it, continue to nurture in it so we no longer have fences that look like jails and playgrounds that arent deserving of the children who use them. So i want to thank all San Francisco voters for supporting the 2012 clean and safe neighborhoods park fund, without which we would not be here today. Our most important partner in all of this are our friends at the department of Public Health who have as a tough a job as anybody right now in trying to figure out how to allow us to safely resume some sense of normalcy. And i am incredibly grateful to dr. Colfax and dr. Aragon and their team for working with us and truly understanding the importance and the urgency of opening up playgrounds. So dr. Colfax, the mic is yours. Well, thank you, director ginsburg, and really to acknowledge our gratitude to mayor breed, supervisors safai, director su, and mr. Robert ellis for their leadership in this work. You know that theres been so many challenging days during this pandemic. And so many sad days. And this is such a day of gratitude and beauty. Look out it here, and look at the kids playing. This is a Pivotal Moment as we Work Together to slow the spread of covid and realize that our children must go back to doing the things that we know that are important for their health and their familys health and the communities health. The reopening of the playgrounds is an opportunity to get our kids back something that we havent done since march, march. Incredible. We at the Health Department are so happy to be here as we have worked to get San Francisco to this place. To back to where kids can get in an environment where they can thrive, starting with school programs, Community Hubs, and elementary schools, stepbystep, and now playgrounds. We have made tremendous progress as a city. And we know that the sacrifice and the dedications of our families and our communities have made the contributions that have succeeded in slowing the spread of covid19 virus. And i thank you. We thank you. And we want all of our children all of our children to continue to enjoy the reopening of activities. And so parents, we need your help in ensuring that we open playgrounds as safely as possible. When visiting playgrounds, please be sure that your family follows the health and safety rules for playground visitors. Prepare your family for less children and for socially distanced fun. And i wouldnt be doing my job, you know what comes next, if i wouldnt remind people to, please, wear a face covering. They are required for all playground visitors, aged 2 and over. Please limit your stay to 30 minutes when other households are present, so that other people can also enjoy the playground. And, please, practice that good hygiene. And although playgrounds are outdoors, we still want to be cautious. We need everyones help in sustaining our gain and the progress that we have made. So lets have fun today. Lets take advantage of these beautiful seasonal days that we have in San Francisco, and, again, thank you mayor breed, supervisor safai and director ginsburg for your partnership and work. And everyone, lets continue to play it safe. Thank you. [applause] thank you, dr. Colfax. So were now going to hear from two important Community Members that have fought for children and for families in this neighborhood. Our first speaker, renard monroe, the executive director of youth first. Youve been amazing. Thank you for your partnership in our Community Hub program. I want to acknowledge executive director, dr. Mariea su, my partner in crime and all things kids and families. But, menard, you are running a Model Program and youre doing it for kids who really need the support. And were so grateful to you for your help in keeping these spaces safe and clean. Please come up and say a few words. [applause] good afternoon. This is a bittersweet moment for us as a community, because there are some people before menard who really put in some hard work to make sure that we have this space for the children and our community. And i need to acknowledge a few people who didnt make it to see this day. Our neighbor, she lived right there, her name was karen mccoy. [applause] she fought and she fought and she had phils number on speed dial trying to get this place renovated. She didnt make it to see it, she passed away and im thankful for her and her daughter, they both passed away. They fought for this park and im appreciative of that. And delores, who is also a resident fought for this park. And mary harris and al harris, okay, a lot of people put in wilma gardner, a lot of people have been fighting to make sure that this Community Gets what it needs. Im just happy to be part of the process and im thankful for today and im thankful for our mayor to allocate the funds and Phil Ginsburg, hes been awesome. Its been awesome. And i appreciate you. He comes out the first day they put this together and went down the slide with the kids and impressed the kids. Its just one of those things where San Francisco is supposed to be about community. And these type of events are so important, especially in a times that were living in and the covid19. I definitely want to thank our supervisor safai. [applause] for all of his hard work and pushing for our district to make sure that we can have spaces like this. Also i want to thank our community as a whole, first and foremost. Our residents right here, up and down the street. Using this park every day, and were so happy to have it back open, to have our kids back playing safely and in an environment, and something to be proud of. Im proud of our district. Im proud of where were going. Okay, we have organizations and c. B. O. S who are really making a push for this district to get the resources allocated here. And all of the things that we are doing just to make sure that the Community Gets what it needs and to make sure that children have a future. So, thank you. [applause] thank you, renard. So another Community Leader that had my phone number on speed dial, my phone number, my email and my twitter and my telegraph handle was edna james. And edna couldnt be here today, but she has asked one of her closest Community Partners to come up and to say a few words. Robert ellis. Robert is the Vice President of the o. M. I. Community Action Organization and a member of the friends of mersed heights playground, and to say a few words about the power of community when it comes to getting things done. Robert, the microphone is yours. Hi, i wish i had been first. All of these accolades have been handed out and its well deserved. And i want to thank our mayor breed for all of her dedication, all of her dedication to the city. And not only she is smart, but shes pretty. So thats a good thing. Like i say, i want to thank phil definitely if you stand here and you look around you can see the transformation of this park and the future is still bright. I have been on di dixie street r the last 50 years and i have seen the park deteriorate and now its like a Phoenix Rising from the sun. So you see that its bringing a whole new atmosphere to the community. Not only for the children, but also for the adults and for everybody in the community and the city. And im certainly glad to be a part of it and i want to apologize not apologize, but i want to give my regrets to miss james, the well documented partner was unable to be here today. So i want to thank everyone that invited me and phil and just say, phil, youre doing a wonderful job. Keep up the good work. And god bless you. Thank you. Just a few quick acknowledgements and then were going to wrap up and if there are any questions you have a few people here who might be able to answer them. Just a couple of questions. But i i want to recognize through the San FranciscoPark Alliance that without the San FranciscoPark Alliance, make no mistake that we would not be renovating or Ribbon Cutting five new playgrounds. Their partnership is invaluable and they lead with their heart and they care about the parks. Thank you, San FranciscoPark Alliance. [applause] and then last to my own team, lisa brampton, lisa, thank you for all that you have done to bring private resources to help to supplement what the voters have done to allow us to renovate these playgrounds. To our park supervisor, Brandon Young bright and early here, mayor, making sure that this place looked super clean. So, thank you, brandon, for being here. And to dan mauer, our project manager for this particular project, and to all of the rec and park staff who really had to hustle to make sure that you can see these markings on the ground and you can see all of the signs in the last 36 hours we have put out maybe 750 signs and have marked playgrounds and, yeah, my staff always rises to the occasion. So a big shout out to the rec and park staff. Lets let them play. Thanks, everyone. You. What do you think about working at an airport and i love it is busy all the time. We want it to be an those away was this is a venture if i didnt love it ill be an accountant. We want the experience that is a nonairport experience the negative stigma were trying to erase that. Everything is in a bad food to excite them about the food and they have time to learn about us. People are imitated by traveling and the last thing to do is come to a place fill of chaos. Telling me how the extent of napa a farms came about. It was a vision of the airport director he had a suspicion of a really cool gourmet speciality market locally friendly products this market local flavors this is the best. Can we get a little tour. Absolutely laughter so first on our tour. We have the clock we like to call it. This is coordinating it is made in San Francisco. What about the customer presence. We like to get the permanent farther i love the cappuccino and you have to go to multiple places for the cupcakes the cup a cakes from karis people want to live here theyre longing phone call for one thing in one spot in you know anything about San Francisco the cheese the most popular cheesy think a lot of the people from the west coast say so this the real San Francisco sour dough and theyre curious. You find people respond to the idea of organic and absolutely. This is autumn. Thank you, thank you and theres a lot of personal touch. I see San Francisco. Its very hands on. Whats the most popular items. This is quite surprising our fresh jotting this is the chronicle special a bowl of warm oats and coconut thats mites farther. And speaking of drinks tell me again the cocktail scenes is that one, the things your known for. The cocktails are fantastic. Really. Fresh ingredients we dont have a mixture it to order this is our marcus bloody mayor. Farmers market bloody mary the bloody marys in the airport are great shikz it up. And then were going to garnish it with olives. And some lime and a fresh stalk of selly. Right on. We like 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 the San Francisco playgrounds hitsvery dates back to 1927 when the area where the present playground and center is today was purchased by the city for 27,000. In the 1950s, the sen consider was expanded by then mayor robinson and the old gym was built. Thanks to the passage of the 2008 clean and safe Neighborhood Parks bond, the Sunset Playground has undergone extensive renovation to its four acres of fields, courts, play grounds, community rooms, and historic gymnasium. Here we are. 60 years and 14 million later, and we have got this beautiful, brandnew rec center completely accessible to the entire neighborhood. The new rec center houses multipurpose rooms for all kinds of activities including basketball, line dancing, playing pingpong and arts can crafts. You can use it for whatever you want to do, you can do it here. On friday, november 16, the dedication and Ribbon Cutting took place at the Sunset Playground and recreation center, celebrating its renovation. It was raining, but the rain clearly did not dampen the spirits of the dignitaries, Community Members and children in attendance. [cheering and applauding] my name is doctor ellen moffett, i am an assistant medical examiner for the city and county of San Francisco. I perform autopsy, review medical records and write reports. Also integrate other sorts of testing data to determine cause and manner of death. I have been here at this facility since i moved here in november, and previous to that at the old facility. I was worried when we moved here that because this building is so much larger that i wouldnt see people every day. I would miss my personal interactions with the other employees, but that hasnt been the case. This building is very nice. We have lovely autopsy tables and i do get to go upstairs and down stairs several times a day to see everyone else i work with. We have a bond like any other group of employees that work for a specific agency in San Francisco. We work closely on each case to determine the best cause of death, and we also interact with family members of the diseased. That brings us closer together also. I am an investigator two at the office of the chief until examiner in San Francisco. As an investigator here i investigate all manners of death that come through our jurisdiction. I go to the field Interview Police officers, detectives, family members, physicians, anyone who might be involved with the death. Additionally i take any property with the deceased individual and take care and custody of that. I maintain the chain and custody for court purposes if that becomes an issue later and notify next of kin and make any additional follow up phone callsness with that particular death. I am dealing with people at the worst possible time in their lives delivering the worst news they could get. I work with the family to help them through the grieving process. I am ricky moore, a clerk at the San Francisco medical examiners office. I assist the pathology and toxicology and Investigative Team around work close with the families, loved ones and funeral establishment. I started at the old facility. The building was old, vintage. We had issues with plumbing and things like that. I had a tiny desk. I feet very happy to be here in the new digs where i actually have room to do my work. I am sue pairing, the toxicologist supervisor. We test for alcohol, drugs and poisons and biological substances. I oversee all of the lab operations. The forensic operation here we perform the toxicology testing for the Human Performance and the case in the city of San Francisco. We collect evidence at the scene. A woman was killed after a robbery homicide, and the dna collected from the zip ties she was bound with ended up being a cold hit to the suspect. That was the only investigative link collecting the scene to the suspect. It is nice to get the feedback. We do a lot of work and you dont hear the result. Once in a while you heard it had an impact on somebody. You can bring justice to what happened. We are able to take what we due to the next level. Many of our counterparts in other states, cities or countries dont have the resources and dont have the beautiful building and the equipmentness to really advance what we are doing. Sometimes we go to court. Whoever is on call may be called out of the office to go to various portions of the city to investigate suspicious deaths. We do whatever we can to get our job done. When we think that a case has a natural cause of death and it turns out to be another natural cause of death. Unexpected findings are fun. I have a prior background in law enforcement. I was a Police Officer for 8 years. I handled homicides and suicides. I had been around Death Investigation type scenes. As a Police Officer we only handled minimal components then it was turned over to the coroner or the detective division. I am intrigued with those types of calls. I wondered why someone died. I have an extremely supportive family. Older children say, mom, how was your day. I can give minor details and i have an amazing spouse always willing to listen to any and all details of my day. Without that it would be really hard to deal with the negative components of this job. Being i am a native of San Francisco and grew up in the community. I come across that a lot where i may know a loved one coming from the back way or a loved one seeking answers for their deceased. There are a lot of cases where i may feel affected by it. If from is a child involved or things like that. I try to not bring it home and not let it affect me. When i tell people i work at the medical examiners office. Whawhat do you do . The autopsy . I deal with the a with the enou with the administrative and the families. Most of the time work here is very enjoyable. After i started working with dead people, i had just gotten married and one night i woke up in a cold sweat. I thought there was somebody dead . My bed. I rolled over and poked the body. Sure enough, it was my husband who grumbled and went back to sleep. This job does have lingering effects. In terms of why did you want to go into this . I loved science growing up but i didnt want to be a doctor and didnt want to be a pharmacist. The more i learned about forensics how interested i was of the perfect combination between Applied Science and criminal justice. If you are interested in finding out the facts and truth seeking to find out what happened, anybody interested in that has a place in this field. Being a woman we just need to go for it and dont let anyone fail you, you cant be. With regard to this position in comparison to crime dramas out there, i would say there might be some minor correlations. Lets face it, we arent hollywood, we are real world. Yes we collect evidence. We want to preserve that. We are not scanning fingerprints in the field like a Hollywood Television show. Families say thank you for what you do, for me that is extremely fulfilling. Somebody has to do my job. If i can make a situation that is really negative for someone more positive, then i feel like i am doing the right thing for the city of san francisc this is the regular meeting of the commission. I would like to welcome the public and the staff. Following the guidelines set forth by local and state officials during the health emergency, the members of the Economies Commission are meeting remotely to ensure safety for everyone including members of the public. Thank you, all, for joining us. Please call the first item. Thank you, mr. Chair. The first order of business is item 1, roll call. Commission members please respond. Commissioner brackett present