Transcripts For SFGTV Mayors 20240703

Am particularly excited because this is where i got my start in public service. To be a San Francisco native, and to be appointed as a Youth Commission is a really big deal. Give yourselves a round of applause. Lets give a round of applause. When i look out at you all and i can say this now because im a father of three and i have got some gray hairs. A lot has changed since i was appointed Youth Commissioner. I see a lot of hope, and i see inspiration because we need your perspective here in San Francisco, especially now. This right here today is an indication of what this city and county looks like. You should be proud as you raise your hand in a few minutes and take this office. Im a San Francisco native. I went to the high school here. Any alum . Today i work as a Public Affair executive for a national Public Affairs firm. I have the honor and privilege to serve as commissioner for three consecutive mayors. My last appointment, mayor breed appointed me to the Human Rights Commission and we worked with every department to be sure it has a mandate for equity issues. I was appointed by the late ed lee and was on the mission structure, with the bay, with the terminal and these are what fell under the office of investment and community infrastructure. My First Commission appointment was the San Francisco Youth Commission. I was sworn in by mayor gavin newsom where we worked on a myriad of issues to be sure that parents had transparent information and we worked on the muni and the lifeline package. That came from the San Francisco Youth Commission. I bring up those issues to say that the world, the city hall, San Francisco is your oyster. There is no issue too small or call too big that you cannot handle. I walk the halls today and in my fulltime job im a consultant for a Consulting Firm and i act as a bridge inside city hall and outside city hall. I remind myself that we have important persons here. We have mayor breed, other commissioners and these are all people that you have access to in this building. Im going to end with this before i call mayor breed up. My challenge for you all is to become masters of all of the tangible. There is enough smart people, there is a lot of smart people in San Francisco, but the most successful Public Servants show up, they are present, they are unafraid to speak. They are, i get emotional here because this city, i love this city. Im born and raised in this city particularly during a time right now. One of the most important things that has allowed me to be successful are the relationships. Making sure that the people you see sit next to you as Youth Commissioners, keep these relationships strong because ten years from now, when you are walking the halls, when you are the next mayor of San Francisco, the next supervisor of the department ahead, its going to be the person that sits next to you that you call on for that legislation, or draft policy or make sure our streets are clean. So i want to say thank you. I want to say thank you to mayor breed for inviting me here today. I would like to call you up to do the official oath of office. Mayor london breed thank you, theo and supervisors for showing up for our young people today. In the past, i know gavin newsom was in the basement and i think ed lee was in the focus at the time. When i became mayor, i wanted to be sure that young people like you were a priority. I think this city has spent a lot of time doing a lot of things that often has not led to the kinds of results that you as the next generation of young folks growing up in San Francisco deserve. So one of the first programs that i started when i became mayor was opportunities for all. And let me tell you, for any of you that participate in opportunities for all, well, thank you, at least one or two, but the rest of you are going to need to participate in this program. Why was that important . It was important because when i was growing up in San Francisco, i lived in poverty. So i needed to make money somehow. My grandmother received welfare for us and food stamps and we didnt have the ability to do some of the things i wanted to participate in. I pretended i didnt want to be a cheerleader but i really wanted to be a cheerleader but i couldnt afford the uniform and the travel associated with being a cheerleader. There is an Important Program like that where we provide internships so that money is not a barrier to your desire to do anything you want in life. And the fact that you all are committing your time to the Youth Commission, where you are stepping up to be leaders in this arena, i wanted you to know how important it is not only to me, but to our supervisors who are here, to people like theo who went through this program as a Youth Commissioner and continues to serve in various capacities in the city of San Francisco. These are opportunities. Not just opportunities for you to add something to your college applications, but as theo has said, opportunities, for you to develop very important relationships that could be a part of your lives for the rest of your lives. People that you are going to be working with to push for policy decisions that are important to young people in San Francisco. This is where you learn how to develop those relationships, how to fight for what you want and after the fight is done, the debate happens, you are still friends and show respect for one another because all of you are spending your time being Public Servants that deliver the kind of results that young people of this city need especially after this global pandemic. It has been very difficult. I cant even imagine what you all have gone through where two years of not being able to be in school. I couldnt wait until the first day of school when i was growing up. I couldnt imagine what it would feel like where you could not go into school and the classroom and not look forward to recess or lunchtime and have the friends and have the quality time. I know its so important that we start to have an honest conversation about the impact on our Mental Health to our young people who have experienced the things that you have gone through. You know whats best because you have lived in it and you can provide an opportunity for us as leaders to make decisions that support moving our city forward in a good direction, but more importantly making sure that we are providing the right kind of support and resources for young people all over San Francisco. Now, let me just give you a little bit of what the power of the Youth Commission is. Now, the Youth Commission convinced me to support something i was opposed to. The vote 16 efforts. [ applause ] there were a couple of young people. They came into my office, and then they presented. I was opposed to it. No, you are 18, still live at home, you are not grown. I was opposed to it. These youngster came into my office and they had the data that talked about specifically how young people voting in their age become more actively engaged and showing up to vote. And they said it but not only said it but they had the data in demonstrating how this was more impactful in getting more people to show up and vote. That was after a few minutes i was engaged in this conversation and something i dont do that often but i changed my mind. But i was so proud that they were interested in something they cared about. You mention the card lifeline. The youth helped to make it free, not just the lifeline. But later on, the muni generation fought to make it free, no longer sneaking in on the bus, and to making sure that money is not a barrier and to be sure that every young person can get on our busses and not have to dealing with the consequences for not being able to pay. This is the first step for learning how to be a leader and to protect things you care about, how to bring ideas forward and impacting young people in San Francisco. We are looking forward to seeing you serve this year, and bring forth not only to myself but the board of supervisors, the legislative branch of government, we are looking forward to see what you bring forward for us to deliver on for young people. We may say what we want to do for young folks, but you all understand it from a different perspective. We are looking forward to your service, on the Youth Commission. Enjoy every single moment. Dont tell your parents i have to go to the Youth Commission and i cant makeup my bed. Make sure you take care of things at home, that you take care of things at school, but you really take this opportunity to be not only part of this meeting where you have discussions but you take the time to get to know one another throughout this process. This is going to be so important to you in life and also this experience is something for you to look back on and when you look back, make sure what you do today makes you proud. With that, im ready to swear you in. [ applause ] so here is how we are going to do it since all of your family and friends are here and they want to take pictures. Everyone who is being sworn in to the Youth Commission will stand up here facing this way, and i will give you instructions from there. Now, if anyone wants to be in the middle, you can. Cmon. There we go. This is a great looking group of young people [cheers and applause] okay, im going to ask you to raise your right hand and repeat after me, and then im going to point to you when i ask you to state your name. You will state your full name. Okay . Are we ready . Are we ready . Lets pretend we are at homecoming in high school. Are we ready . Okay. All right. Lets go. Please raise your right hand, everyone, and repeat after me. I, state your name, do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states, and the constitution of the state of california. Against all enemies. Foreign and domestic. That i bear true faith, and allegiance to the same that i take this obligation freely. Without any mental reservation. Or purpose of evasion. And that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which im about to enter. And during such time, as i serve as commissioner for the Youth Commission of the city and county of San Francisco. Congratulations, everybody. Congratulations, everybody. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] any one of our brave leaders want to say a few words . There we go. I will take the chance when i have one. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for joining us here today. My name is plumber, i serve as a commissioner in the San Francisco Youth Commission. I serve citywide but im a proud resident of district 4. I want to thank you all for being here today. This is my third term on the San Francisco Youth Commission. Its been really exciting and we have been able to work on incredible things. Im looking forward to come back this year and talk about things for youth and every issue that impacts young people in San Francisco. Well have our first meeting on monday. We are getting right to it. [cheers and applause] all right. So first we are going to take a few pictures, and then we are going to host a reception for everyone in my Conference Room in 201. So that everyone can have a good time after the ceremony. Thank you all so much for being here, supervisor mandelman. The principal is going to send you to detention. [ laughter ] but thank you, supervisor mandelman for joining us as well. We are proud to have all family and Community Members here to support the young folks who are going to take over San Francisco. So we have to make sure that they are prepared and ready to go. That we are building more Senior Citizen homes so i have a place to live when i become a Senior Citizen as i watch you lead San Francisco. Im looking forward to it. Thank you very much for being [ applause ] chances are if you are in San Francisco visiting one of our vibrant neighborhoods, youll see one of our workers wearing one of our vests. Usually, the corridors are the busiest travels areas of the cities, so we want to keep San Francisco a worldclass destination for everyone. My duty is to go around, making sure that im getting everything up off the ground. I pick up everything from cigarette butts, sweeping gum. We find needles on the floor, drug paraphernalia, trash, sometime feces. It gets pretty dirty out here. My job is pretty much its unpredictable. Im a San Francisco native. I grew up in the bayview. You know, im just appreciative of just helping my neighborhood. Even places i dont live it, sometimes im out there, helping, too. Im a San Francisco native, so it is really important for me to keep the city clean and try to make a difference. It makes me feel a part of the city more because im a native here, i was born and raised here. So i know what San Francisco should be and should look like. As much as possible, i try to keep the neighborhood a place for everybody, not just the people that live here because everybody contributes to making the neighborhood. I know theres a lot of camaraderie between everybody, and that makes for a good days work. How are you . Good. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Theres still good people in the world. Oh, always. Theres always. How you doing . Good. All right. Theres a lot of merchants thats very happy with the job that were doing here. Theyve noticed that since weve been out here, that the streets have been a lot cleaner. He is one of the happiest people i know, just doing his job, that is keeping the trash out of the street and keeping our neighborhood clean. So hes our little hero, super hero. Only thing thats going to get in my way is the trash, and i know how to sweep that out of the way. Like i said, if people is fine, we have nothing to worry about. Life is what you make of it, and thats for real. Friday, its raining. So . Im out here. I love what i do. Our Corridor Program is made up with a combination of employees, and Human Resources agency who are helping people get back on their feet in the workforce. As a homeless person, im glad that public works has given me the opportunity to work, and give me a job and so i give it 110 . Public can really help by picking up their trash and not throwing it in front of me. I make sure i even encourage my own kids to you know, if youre outside, you see something, go and pick it up. Dont leave it there. Go put it in the garbage. It doesnt hurt to do that. You cant get it all, but you can get most of it. Help us keep San Francisco clean. Its a beautiful city. It seems like its hard to keep it that way, but its not if everybody be a team player and work together. 2023. tuesday, september 19, 2023. Secretary please call the roll, please. Ill call the roll and read the raymond. President bernal present. Commissioner giraudo present. Commissioner green present. Commissioner chow present and commissioner chow the and commissioner chow the ramaytush unceded ancestral homeland of the ramaytush rahmytoosh ohlone olonee who are the original inhabitants of the San Francisco peninsula. Irresponsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory