Im mirely from Culture Affairs and it gives me great joy to extend a welcome to mexican Independence Day organized by the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco. Today, [applause]. Yeah. Today as you all know were great celebrating the 213th anniversary of our independence and not only that as maybe you saw the banner upstairs, were celebrating 1 75 years of Mexican Consulate in San Francisco. And 200 of the anniversary of by lateral relations between the United States and mexico. Yes. That shows our rich history which were proud to celebrate with all of you. While were so appreciative of the city of San Francisco for allowing us to host this event in this mag any my sent building and it makes honor to this beautiful song like San Francisco open its golden gates, thank you so much. Before i give our floor to our wonderful mc, i want to recognize the president of the brazil and consulate general of brazil. And local 7sciu. Thank you. [speaking spanish] muy buenos tardes. This is a great hon hor ob able to stand in front of you but especially that were all coming together as a city, our great leaders and our consul general to my left here. Its a beautiful moment when San Francisco gets to celebrate the joy, right . Am i right . [applause] so were going to practice a little just to warm all of you up, in case the margarita did not do it. Right . Que viva mexico. Viva que viva london breed . So thats a good warm up. [speaking spanish] que viva. Our lieutenantgovernor will get to explain why govern, why am i saying govern . With that being said, for me its a really great honor. My name is olga im the president of local 87. I come from labor. Today were being seen in San Francisco, right . [speaking spanish] we are being seen as latinos in San Francisco. With that, i also want to be able to recognize my labor siblings and be able to say local 798 with the firefighters and all of our first responders. With that being said, its a great honor and i want to talk a little bit about the past so we know where were going. This grito came out of an idea one of my sibling thats came out of as well. And has been on the josh. I came up with an idea to celebrate el grito here in San Francisco. We went to the mayor and its been 42 years since the el grito had been celebrated. We have many lies in San Francisco, mnc being one of our sponsors. A big applause for mnc. But also the mayor of the mission is present today. Roberto hernandez and i want to be able to say more importantly our mayor took this as one of the celebrations as part of the thread of the city. Listen, we have to embrace that as latinos were taking on more challenges. But also a mayor that is willing to celebrate our heritage and our presence in the city and know that we are being seen today. With that being said, im asking all of you, just like we practiced a moment ago toxer please give it it up to our mayor, maryland lon breed. Mayor london breed. Thank you, all happy grito, everybody. Viva mexico. Let me tell you, although you should be so proud and josh for everything youve done to make this happen. Not just what is going on today on the mayors balcony but what is actually going on outside in front of city hall. This is an incredible celebration. Consul general, thank you for being here. I nor were going to hear from you. Thank you for being and Great Partnership that continues to persist between our two countries and joaquin, thank you for being here. As well as the mayor of red wood city, mayor jeff ye, thank you for joining us. [applause] our chief of protocol gloria and in just a moment, youll hear from our lieutenantgovernor elani. But you all are welcomed and honored guest today to celebrate el grito in San Francisco city hall. Your city hall. And last year when we first celebrated, somebody handed me a little more tequila than i should have. And i admit it publicly that im a more of a mez mezcal girl and all of a sudden, mezarrived at my office. What i appreciate between the state of california and mexico, there is a deep rich embedded history. We also know that this was once the territory of mexico, the state of california. And we believe that a lot of that history is celebrating of having a consulate in San Francisco has a lot to do with the community that was already here and the community that continues to be part of the rich history of developing and making San Francisco what it is today. Whether its the food, whether its the wine. Whether its so much things in terms of the, the history, the culture. The beautiful attire and everything that exists in this community. It is truly embedded in San Francisco in so many amazing ways. And feshl for those of us who grew up in San Francisco. We know how valuable this community is. Sxl its traditional low has resided mostly in the Mission District where we see the Mission Cultural center which continues to be doing amazing work around dance, around history around culture and where we see, other various events continue to take place. One that honestly, i know is not just about mexico, it is kind of about San Francisco, the lowriders are one of those things where it has bridged the artistic talents of the community into creating a new culture of community with the lowriders so much so that when the lowriders Roberto Hernandez first started crewsing down San Francisco, it was treated as something that was i willy as a behavior that was not welcomed. To the point where now, it is welcome addition to the history and culture of San Francisco differently than ever before. [applause] embracing the old and infusing the new, is what San Francisco does in our communities and as we celebrate the history and celebrate 213 years of independence, it gives us an opportunity to reflect, it gives us an opportunity to remind ourselves that independence sometimes is not something that we should take for granted. It is something that has been fought for and continues to need to be fought for with each and every generation. Whether its the freedom to exist and be a part of your community and walk and live frely. Or or whether it is what is dwg on around our country. We have to continue to fight but there is also an opportunity to take a motion, reflect and to celebrate. And to appreciate the people who came before us, whose shoulders we stand on and why were able to celebrate in a place like city hall where many many years ago, people like you and people like me were not even welcomed to walk through the doors. And that is not so far in our history. So today, is a celebration. Today is a blessing. Today is an exciting time for us to come together and to just really support and honor that history and honor that legacy right here in San Francisco city hall. So im glad to have you here, im glad to welcome you here. And im looking forward because today is latino heritage month in the city and county of San Francisco and we will be celebrating on september 28th and bringing all the latin American Communities to our city to have a big celebration. We appreciate the fact that you are already here kicking it off and making sure that el grito has its own unique important celebration in the city and county of San Francisco. [applause] so, with that, i want to again thank you all so much for being here to celebrate. So happy to have each and every one of you here. With that i want to take the opportunity to introduce our lieutenantgovernor, eleni. Thank you so much madam mayor, mr. Consul general, ol ga, the fabulous olga miranda. What an honor to with are you. For those of you who dont know, i live here in San Francisco, it thes my chosen home along with my husband. He was born here but i fell in love with San Francisco for our cultural diversity. And im here as a guest in the house of the mayor and im so fortunate that for these wonderful celebrations, they invites me to come down. And then when i do, she says, well shes the lieutenantgovernor maybe she should Say Something as well. Its a privilege to say a few words on behalf of the state of california. As olga mentioned, the governor is out of state right now so im the octobering govern today, the governdora as they would say. But what i would like to share with you, all sometimes, north california, its hard to recognize what goes on in the state as a whole. Not only, as our mayor noted, do we have a long shared history between california and mexico. Not only do we have this Extraordinary People to people relationship being the state with the largest number of mexican americans anywhere in the United States, of course. [applause] but i will tell you, i spent a lot of time down on our border. The 150 mile Border Crossing between california and mexico is the biggest border land crossing in the western hemisphere. And just what that means, if you have not heard the statistics, about 30 million cars cross through the ports of entry every year. One and a half million trucks with our robust trade relationship cross every year. And you might not know this, but about 15 million individual pedestrian crossings, people walking through the ports of entry across our border and for in San Francisco and the greater border region, they dont think of it as transitioning from one country to another or the state of california, to the state of baja. They see it as one region and that is why when govern newsom and i both came in to office, we decided it was time to articulate something very important. It was time for the leadership of california to articulate that mexico is californias number one most important foreign partner. And we say it all the time. So with that, happy Mexican National day. It is so wonderful to be with you with all of you and viva mexico. Viva. Viva before olga comes back, i forgot what the whole reason why i came up here, to do my job as mayor. I got too excited in the moment. So before the consul general speaks and olga comes back up again, thank you so much olga miranda, she is the labor leader for the janitors of San Francisco. And let me tell you, its its not just folks of mexican dissent, there are folks of diversity and she is leading the union and making sure that she is taking care of the places especially downtown San Francisco. So thank you again. Olga. I also want to acknowledge, you know, i think our lieutenantgovernor forgot about the flights that go in and out of mexico. It is the number one Tourist Destinations for people from california but what most people may not know, is that california is a Tourist Destination for mexican tourist to come here as well. So we truly have an International Relationship that continue to persist and well continue to enjoy that. And i want today make my specific announcement about what were going to do in honor of el grito. We are going to light up city hall in the colors of the mexican flag, green, white and red. So make sure that after this event, you get your photographs, you go out and you celebrate with the community. And finally, consul general, on behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, today were officially making it el grito day in the city and county of San Francisco. [applause] come on, are we ready . Yes i would like to take this moment to be able to introduce our consul general de mexico vincent ventura. Who will provide comments. Last month, there were changes. But im so proud that our consul general stand to go my left is now going to be sharing these remarks. Weve all been looking forward to this moment. Ungran aplauso. [applause] thank you very much. Im so excited to be here with you all. This is an important celebration, mexico is present here. And thanks to your interest, your visits, your culture is great, thank you, thank you very much. Thank you mayor, thank you lieutenantgovernor and all the members that are doing incredible effort to have this celebration here to life. Thank you. Let me write, let me read for you some words that i would like to share with you. We come together to celebrate 213 anniversary of mexican independence, with latino United States. We honored to have the mayor london breed and lieutenant and mary anne, chief of city of San Francisco with us tonight. On september 16th, 1810, i dal go ran the charts in dolores. Challenging for mexican independence. Our history is marked by resilience and determination. This spirit lies on mexicans from the daca dream inventories essential workers contributing to californias prosperity. Our communities extend to achievement in arts and culture, we applaud mexican artist success like diego rivera and cha lo legacy in San Francisco. We celebrate San Francisco dancers, hernandez, and our ten or arturo chacon. Thank you. [applause] as you mentioned lieutenantgovernor, mexicos economy is crucial ties with the u. S. And canada through mca. We also cherish our partnership with california a strong ally ant committed for our border. Mexico second largest partner supporting over 850,000 jobs. This year, we are proud to celebrate 1 75 years of the mexican culture being present here in the beautiful city of San Francisco. To mayor breed and mary anne, thank you for your warm hospitality in this beautiful building and historic city, today we gather with your friends in california and San Francisco to mark this historic and important occasion. Thank you very much and que viva mexico. Muchas gracias. Gracias. [applause] at this time i would like to also recognize supervisor safai. Thank you. My next guest is Robert Negrete continues to provide to our community. I want to take this point right now to be able to say that we cannot take access to technology for granted. Comcast continues to be a leader in San Francisco and throughout Northern California in making sure that our families have access to that. Knowing that we can grow and whether its our children and being able to get access to their lessons or being able to look up that information. Its thanks to comcast leading that way for all of us. Part of the threat leaning and looking towards the future w. That, im going to ask you to please give one of our biggest sponsor comcast Robert Negrete [applause]. Thank you, robert. Mi gente como estas . Thats weak, give me some love. Mi gente como estas . Look at all of this Beautiful People in this building. This is incredible and im honored. I come from humble beginings to be able to sit here and speak in front of you having mayor london breed next to me, this is incredible. Im super thankful and grateful for this opportunity. So i would like to take this moment to thank mayor lond ond breed and all the dignitaries here this evening, we cannot do all of this without of hard work. Were commit today your dedication to ensure that were successful. Thank you so much. [applause] el grito is such a Beautiful Day of celebration and gratitude. Its a day of remembrance with the special focus on celebrating a beautiful country and its culture. Come on, give it up. Lets go today reminds me of my grandmother. She made the most amazing food yall, anybody have anybody like that out there. Specifically she made this bowl of menudo that was beyond anything you could ever taste. Like the taste, the flavor, you can just everything like if i was sick, i was healed within a half hour, it ha super power. One day i asked her, grandma, what is it . What is the secret recipe that you put in this to make it so good . She looked at me and said my jo, i make it with love so today im going to ask you to continue to lead with love as we build with these communities and continue to build these wonderful communities in the area. Through our dni efforts comcast to develop our leaders and define way to see give back to our communities especially things like partnering with mayor breeds office to be able to give back and do the community, community hubs. So through our partnership, and local Community Base organizations for community hubs, we collect collectively walk to bridge divide. I remember that little girl that i heard about having to go to a taco bell to get internet access. In our partnerships and all the things that were doing today, were able to build wore automobile to build the Digital Divide and help our community survive. So with this partnership, im blown away, im thankful. Comcast is grateful for all the things that they do in this room. Thank you so much and have a wonderful evening. [applause] im height challenged. Listen, at this time i want to be able to share with all of you that the daughter of indigenous my mother, im proud to be able imatepewama. And as a orphan, indigenous young women, youre a third class citizen as the way she was treated. She called the United States in california, her mother of choice. And for those of us who are emigrated here, our parents that we saw the sacrifices, we are all proud part of the city. Whether we are, black and mexican, whether were filipino and mexican, whether were irish and mexican, whether were neighborhood and have no dna, each of the women and men in front of me, you are part of the celebration and the joy of our city. As indigenous, how we were raised, is donde comen uno, comen did i he is. Where one can eat, ten with serve themselves and with ten, it becomes a celebration. With all of that, you dont just in invite anybody in your house. So i want to thank you, mayor breed, to help us host this incredible celebration. But not just anybody sits at our table. These doors are open and we appreciate your leadership in being able to host all of us. We are the threat of the city, we are the make up. Estamos presente. For those that we lost during the pandemic and our leaders stepped up and our communities stepped up, estamo presente . Are we present efrnlts . With our members, our janitors our firefighters, are ufc, all our car penters, we were all present. Presente. Si presente. Mayor, we appreciate you taking the leadership to open the doors of city hall. And with all of that im going to ask you to join us in the second portion of the program where were going to ask you to please join us in the grito outside in the plaza with the entire community as part of the thread. With that, before i ask all of you to join us in the plaza. To please every time i say a sponsors name say presente. And next year, you are presente with us and you are present with us just the same way. So with that, el consul de mexico. Presente. Comcast. Presente. Goenld state warriors. Presente. Giants. Presente. Ucsf. Presente. Office engagement and affairs. Presente. Sciu local 87. Presente. Teamsters local 30. Presente. Mc. Carnival. Presente. Sf parks and rec. Prenlte. At that. Telemundo 48. Presente. Dont get tired now. Estrella. Hetcho en california. Que viva mexico. Viva. Viva london breed. Que viva. Que viva. With that were going to ask you to please join us in the second part of this ceremony. Thank you to all of you joining us today. The elevators are right there and the second part is only going to get better. Thank you so much y que viva mexico. Viva viva mexico happy el grito, everybody thank you so much olga for your kind words and for welcoming every one to San Francisco city hall to celebrate el grito. We are so fortunate that San Francisco has a rich history in mexico history and vibrancy and today as we celebrate 213 years of independence, we acknowledge at one point in time in our history, our not so distant history that black americans, brown americans, people were not even allowed to be in this building. City hall, that now belong to the people, all people of all races and creeds have an opportunity to not only recognize and celebrate their culture in such a significant way. [applause] but to honor, to honor the relationship between california and mexico and how once this was mexico territory. We want to thank you today is about acknowledging and remembering the history but also today is a joyous occasion knowing whos shoulders we stand on to appreciate our independence and it was w that, i want to take the opportunity to recognize that we have the consul general of mexico joining us here today. Mexico, viva. Viva. Viva hidalgo. Viva. Viva morelo. Viva. Viva. Viva. Viva. Viva los mexicanos. Viva. Viva. Viva mexico. Viva. [honking] [bells ringing] [mariachi music playing] viva mexico. Viva. Viva america. Viva. Viva. Hi, im chris and you are watching San Francisco rising. This is about rebuilding and reimaging the city. We will talk about revitalizing downtown. Thank you for having me. The initiatives in the downtown area and enjoy businesses. Perhaps you can tell us about your plan. Yeah, sure. Well, you know, first id like to acknowledge we are here visiting union scare. This is the heart of the city and people come to celebrate lifes greatest moments whether its the holidays or buying your prom dress or getting married. You always think about union square as a place to celebrate. We would like to continue in that celebration especially postpandemic. This is a great place to celebrate life. We want to be creative getting people outdoors. We are still coming out of the pandemic and enjoying what we have to offer think about the Beautiful Hotel and historic district. We have world class shopping destinations and theater here we are using our strike thattic plan there was a time when weus people want r want a bit of everything appeared experience. One of the newest initiatives is union square. In you come down you will see blooms cascading from hotel awnings and blooms on Historic Building fronts. You will see them on bus stops. You can go to many of our restaurants and they have cocktails. They have food and of course, being connected withification we have our bloom gown thats behind me. So, a announcement f ways to celebrate blooms. This is another great time of year for union square we are kickoff the holiday celebrations. They bring out the animal window. We have ice skating. Music is another great way to come and enjoy union scare. We are a recipient of the latest grant. This is bringing it into the public life. We are doing it here. This is in our park. Its really show this is great when it comes to music. We have been ignoring the fact for the districts its a pretty common place across the country and opportunity to transform our spaces. Yeah, i agree with you 100 . We have 13,000 hotel rooms. What if we had a school or soccer this is something we couldnt do before. Our rates prior to the pandemic was under10 . We are higher now. We have businesses like cable car a lot of history and innovation here as well. We want to be ready for the opportunities. This is where some Office Spaces will come. We are seeing Office Leases in union square. The cable car comes through it. Why not come to work in a vibrant space. A lot of the businesses have been remarkably resilient. Can you share Success Stories and talk about how they have been supporting them. This aligned with what i just said about historic neighborhoods. They have seen everything from the Great Depression on. In fact, the earthquake of 1906. We have been around for hundreds of years. Celebrating 116th birthday. Open to the public in october. They are not gone. They are just down the street a beautiful store where people find great fabrics. Contemrare just here on powell street. A lot of the luxury retailers are expanding neighborhood print. We talk about the area with a rich history. What about the spaces and stronger sense of community. Yeah, you know. I have to say these challenging times brought the community together. We had a unique opportunity here. Was an opportunity to look at the district and assess where we might need something. We need a bit more of everything. We broke it down into different categories. We looked at Economic Development and change offering. People were accessing, you know, nightlife, food, or shopping differently out of the pandemic. We wanted to look at marketing and what it meant to get the news out about what we were doing in the district. Looking at our own organize as well and what we would need to get that out there. Also creating a safe space. We are creating a safe and secure area. Our locals in particular you can go shopping anywhere in the bay area. Any of those places will look like any other place. In San Francisco, you are somewhere special. This is a unique place and we needed to get it right. We have done that work and continue to support our district and see different ways to do business here. To be creative and innovative. We were able to change the planning code to make it more flexible to do business here. We are the c3r. We have three floors of retail maybe today we dont want two levels maybe we just want one level instead of too much retail we need a school or something else. Very exciting times and really interesting people and ideas. Thats great. So, i guess, finally, what do you have for San Francisco residents and businesses to be apart of this. This is the gateway of San Francisco. It only drives. Right now, we are so many and still love our great city and what we would like to see. This is San Francisco and the residents. Look around, have a coffee. Listen to music on the weekends. We have so much to offer union square. With that, support these businesses. We have a number of openings, a number of businesses betting on union square. In fact, we have a new hotel. The owner is from back of house, thats the name of the organize. They brought us several other residents and now this wonderful restaurant, i italian restaurant. This is on top of the old restaurant. It will have a rooftop and one of the largest in San Francisco. Its a london based business abdomen and betting on n square. We have a great bar scene popping up and speak easy and pch. Hawthorne, school. This is the place to come down and enjoy. Come, dont forget union square is the place to be. Certainly in the years to come. A very difficult time of course for any major city. We are dealing with the same thing. Explore and support our businesses here. Well continue to thrive. Come on down, you will be wildly, also surprised at how beautiful it is since we are still blooming. Thank you, thats great. Its great to hear your optimistic outlook on restoring this part of time. Thank you for having me and taking a little time to showcase our heart of San Francisco. Thanks again. Thank you. Thats it for this episode. Well be back with another one shortly. Thank you for watching. Call the San Francisco disability and aging Service Committee of wednesday october 4, 2023 to order. Im the president janet spears. As noted on the agenda, members of the public may observe the teleconference meeting via sfgovtv. Org or channel 78 and may offer Public Comment by calling the Public Comment phone number. I like to welcome the members of the public and staff. The Commission Asks thanks for patience during these unprecedented times. We ask the public to have patience. To eliminate
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