Every year from around the world to our beautiful city. I want to tell you about another jewel of the San Francisco port that just celebrated 125 years. The San FranciscoFerry Building. [applause] in the 19th century, commuters and visitors traveled by train or ferry or both. A Ferry Terminal on the waterfront downtown was a practical necessity. It was the sfo of its day. Grand central station. But as we so often do, San Francisco built a practical space a world class beauty, with a 245 foot clock tower along arched arcade, and a interior worthy of a renaissance cathedral. At the foot of Market Street, a beautiful bridge from water to land, the Ferry Building announced to every commuter, every traveller, this is San Francisco. You have arrived. Until that is, [applause] until that is, in the late 1930s when two new bridges the bay and golden gate and rise of the automobile made the Ferry Building seem outdated and unwanted. Soon the grand interior converted to drab cuneals cubicles and in a act of urban planning catastrophes only the 1950 could respond, a doubledecker slicing it from the city it served. For decades, this great landmark was isolated. Nearly forgotten, a crumbling shell of its former glory. No one went there. No one bet on its future. Its time had passed, but then the freeway came down and the city created a new walkable grand embarcadero with the giants on one end and the restored Ferry Building at the center with patience, smart planning, investment and time. San francisco turned a discarded transit hub back into a global icon. A famous city most famous landmark as herb cane called it. Today the Ferry Building hosts shops restaurant, artists and torests and locals and just a few month ago during apec hosted leaders from around the world. This one building at the heart of downtown says a lot about our downtown and about our city. First, beautiful places, world class desirable places are never forgotten for long. Second, our local government with the right vision and right investment and right support can spark monumental turnarounds. Third, and most important, never ever bet against San Francisco. [applause] we never stay down for long. We have faced incredible challenges in the fast 5 years, two unparalleled health crisis. One in the form of covid, the other in the form of fentanyl and National Reckoning on policing and sublic safety and some people inside and out of San Francisco feel these challenges have overwhelmed us. I dont begrudge people frustrations. I dont dispute these have been a tough 5 years, but rather then destroying our city, the storms revealed our strengths, our spirit and service to each other. I believe past is a precursor to our rise. This is a year of the dragon and we will soar again. [applause] we all know the story. Shortly after i took office, we began to hear thisquiting reports of the new and deadly virus. Soon enough, covid19 would up end the world. San francisco declared a emergency february 2020 and then with our partners around the bay, issued the first shutdown or order in the country. My administration then marshaled department of emergency management, Public Health and staff throughout City Government to mobilize and turn our Convention Center into a global commandcovid command center. We cut through the bureaucratic red tape to set up testing sites, Community Hubs and vaccination sites around the city. City workers fanned out to tend to our most vulnerable residents and as Nursing Homes across the country saw ballooning death rates, we protected our seniors at laguna honda and elsewhere. [applause] we were one of the first cities in the country to reach an 80 percent vaccination rate and as deaths climeed across the u. S. And the world, San Francisco saw the lowest death rate of any large city in the country. [applause] people want to say our civic government is dysfunctional. We cant collaborate, we cant get hard things done. Tell that to the thousands of san franciscans alive today because of what we did. [applause] our city faced a storm unlike anything we have seen in a hundred years. Is anybody here a hundred years old . You didnt see it either. [laughter] through hard work, collaboration, ingenuity and simple decency of people we orchestrated the most successful response in the country and as covid wane and vaccinations froze we entered the second phase of my tenure, recovery. The pandemic lead to a massive shift how our economy functions all most overnight. Work from home, exposed to weakness in economies and big cities, especially tech forward San Francisco, we were too dependent on fields that can work from home. Our downtown had never been designed as a neighborhood with many homes and round the clock residents. Downtown was office and office was hit hard. Simultaneously the pandemic constrained our efforts to house the homeless. Then the murder of george floyd and ensuing National Reckoning devastated Police Recruitment and staffing here in San Francisco and around the country. Even as they brought to light the systemic racism that many of us have known for far too long, the department of justice has called the Police Staffing shortage a national crisis. These are national challenges, exacerbated by local conditions. What did we do . We didnt throw up our hands we got to work, on Public Safety. We divertsed non emergency, 911 calls to free up officers while providing better overall responses for those struggling on our streets. I appointed a former hate crime prosecutor as our new District Attorney and Brooke Jenkins began prosecuting crime. [applause] we used bate cars and plain clothe officers to disrupt auto break ins. We coordinated every Public Safety agency you can name. Local, state and federal. Shareal miyamoto conducted deputies to conduct warrant sweeps. I appealed to Governor Newsom and he sent the california highway parole. Delivered the u. S. Attorney and Drug Enforcement agency to interrupt the sale and trafficking of fentanyl. [applause] and all of these efforts have paid off. We doubled the number of drug arrests in 2023. Retail theft and car breakens plummeted. The arrest was 25 points higher then the national average. Our crime rate is the lowest its been in 10 years. [applause] not including 2020 when we had to shut the city down. Yes, these figures are accurate. They coincide with the arrival of the chp national guard, u. S. Attorney office, da jenkins increased in prosecutions. I do recognize that some people dont feel the lower crime rate yet, and if you are someone you know is a victim of a crime, all the stats mean nothing. I understand that and i hear your concerns and thats exactly why we are not letting up. We will roll out 400 automated license plate readers at a hundred intersections across the city this month. [applause] thanks to the voters approving proposition e on tuesday. [applause] we will be installing new Public Safety cameras in high crime areas, deploying drones and changing Police Department rules so our sworn officers are out in the field and not behind a desk. [applause] and yes, we are adding more Police Officers thanks to our effort San Francisco is now the best paid major city in the region for starting Police Officers. Retention is improving. Officers are transferring here. We have the most Police Academy applicant in more then 5 years and the next Academy Class will be the largest since before the pandemic with 50 cadets. [applause] with all that, we will add 200 more officers in the next year and get to full Police Staffing in three years. [applause] at the same time, we are not sacrificing our reform work. The San FranciscoPolice Department is on track to reach the 272 department of justice reforms by april of this year. [applause] thank you to those who lead these efforts including our police chief, bill scott. [applause] of course, we cant talk about Public Safety without talking about the other health crisis. This is a national tragedy, fentanyl is impacting our city both large and small, urban and rule. It is awful and heartbreaking and while im stepping up enforcementf oour laws because that is what our residents deserve and what pour city means, i remain absolutely committed to saving lives. Our approach [applause] our approach is about accountability, resources and new pathways. This means arresting and prosecuting dealers, and when necessary arresting users who are a danger to themselves. It means expanding existing Treatment Options and creating new ones like abstinence based treatment solution. [applause] yes, Offering Service is critical, but frankly we must compel some people into treatment. We will have a additional tool thanks to the voters who helped pass proposition f tuesday. [applause] and i directed the Human Service agency to create a action plan for prop f implementation. If we can provide cash assistance to more then 5 thousand people can screen recipients for Substance Use disorder and get them into treatment. [applause] and we have the services they need. Including 15 free clinics across San Francisco that can administer bupomor 15 day one. We are delivering the goal adding 400 new treatment beds and if Governor Newsom prop 1 passes we have a real opportunity to add hundreds more. We are not waiting, we are doing the work with supervisor mandelman so when the state opens the pipeline for new beds, San Francisco is ready and first in line. [applause] that brings me to homelessness, which also remains a key focus of our recovery. Now, since ifen polk been mayor, we helped over 15 thousand individuals exit homelessness. We are the only county in the bay area to see unsheltered homelessness go down in the last point in time count. We did it by increasing shelter capacity by 66 percent and increasing housing for formally Homeless People by over 50 percent. My office of sifunded by bloomburg philanthropy is appointed new accountability tools to track data, outcomes and hold non profits we fund accountable. [applause] our encampment teams are bringing people indoors and bringing down the tents, despite attempts by the court and by some advocates to obstruct or efforts with City Attorney david chui we fought hard and helped more then 1500 people into shelter from encampment just over the past 6 months. [applause] the number of tents on our streets are down by 37 percent this past 6 months. At the lowest levels it has been since 2018. The other day a gentleman asked me, how can we help so many Homeless People and still have thousands more . Well, we know people fall into homelessness for many reasons and we have programs preventing homelessness for san franciscans every single day. But we also know we keep housing people and people do keep coming here. The advocates and some elected officials want you to believe San Francisco isnt a destination. They want you to believe people dont come here for drugs or other reasons. We all know thats not true. Of those arrested for public drug use in the tenderloin and south of market over the last year, over half were not San Francisco residents. Half. I had enough of it and clearly the voters had enough too. We are not letting up. [applause] we are continuing to add new housing, new shelter. We are setting a new goal of a thousand people a year for homeward bound program. The program that provides unhoused people a ticket back to their home cities. [applause] and we have a new tool for those struggling with Mental Illness and addiction. For decades, state laws have prevented us compelling people into treatment, even if their families are begging us to do so. The people truly suffering you see walking in and out of traffic or screaming at nothing in particular, the people who so desperately need help. I fought to change the state conservatorship laws for years and we finally succeeded. [applause] now we are implementing the changes faster then any county in the state. So far this year yee increased the number of people submitted for conservatorship by 170 percent compared to last year. That is how we make change. That is how we save lives. And of course, there is the pandemic related issues felt most acutely in San Francisco. Our downtown recovery. I have always believed we need to start with a question and if not, how do we make downtown what it was, but rather, what do we want our downtown of the future to be . In 2022, 2023 we worked with trade groups, business owners, builders, neighbors and city departments to create the road map to downtown San Francisco future. A comprehensive plan for a dynamic resilient downtown with resident night life and businesses. A neighborhood that keeps going around the clock, downtown 24 7. [laughter] the first year focused on stabilization, filling our empty store fronts, creating attraction and night life activity and delivering tax incentives. We recruit new businesses and continue to see new leases signed lead by ai which alone is projected to add 12 million square feet of office space by 2030. And it wont be ai alone. This is one of the most beautiful urban environments in the world with a unrivaled pool of talent and builders and dreamers and largest collection of deployable capital in the country, but downtown cant just be about jobs, it cant just be the 9 to 5 financial district. We also need more people to live and study there. So, our new initiative, 30 by 30, 30 thousand more residents and students downtown by 2030. [applause] to do that, we first need to create more housing downtown. We already passed the few local laws to reduce fees to Office Conversion. Our first Office Conversion is happening now. 32 new homes at the warfield building that would not be happening if we hadnt stepped in, and more are coming. [applause] now, we are working on state laws to change state laws with senator scott wiener to spur production and speed up Housing Production downtown. That is housing, but 30 by 30 is also about bringing students down down, and a lot of them. We are working with thought leaders, business folks and educational institutions to make downtown a hub, a center of excellence. We invited the university of california and historically black call jss and universities to join us and some are coming as early as this summer [applause] we are working with other universities and existing anchors, uc law, usf and San Francisco state university. Imagine, student professors researchers and employees working from dorm room to classroom to start up from the Ferry Building to city hall. Cross pollinating ideas, cross pollinating companies. We will lead in ai, climate tech, bio tech and things we havent imagined yet are. Housing students, invasion, that is our future. Tearing out the bike lanes on Market Street going backwards will not move us forward and it wont magically revive downtown. [applause] but 30 thousand more People Living and going to school down there will. Downtown has always been the economic engine that funds the services we care about, and it is post pandemic difficulties are the driving reason for the deficit we now face. We no laupger have the luxury to penalize. We need to incentivize. So let me make two things clear, number one, the board of supervisors and i will close this deficit and we will not weaken our Public Safety to do so. [applause] number two, i have a clear vision for downtown future and my administration will make it happen. [applause] our vision is a vibrant mixed use neighborhood with transit, bar s, restaurants, venues, where people live, work, study, and play. We are through the valley of covid. We endered the slings and arrows of recovery, and now we rise to our next chapter on housing. We are changing our reputation. As a city of no to a city of yes. Yes. [applause] yes to reducing fees, yes to eliminating barriers and yes to any idea that overcomes obinstruction and builds the new homes we so desperately need. There is one housing no i will commit to, any piece of antihousing legislation that comes across my desk i will veto. [applause] every single one. We have a state mandate, so lets build our projects like the power station where we broke ground last year and Treasure Island just this week we relaunched a new phase of housing. Lets work with our land use chair, supervisor melgar to keep advancing prohousing laws through the board. And lets [applause] and lets bring 30 thousand residents and students to the downtown. If we do that, more people and more neighborhoods will be able to afford to live here. More housing means more opportunity. And San Francisco will remain the city of yes for our children and their children and its not just a vision, our work is actually delivering change. Crime is at record lows. San francisco is a ai capital of the world. The birthplace of the next economic boom. The la times reports in 2022, San Francisco companies raised 5 times as much funding as the companies in florida and texas combined. [applause] that is what they do to us. Our Small Business reforms like first year free championing by supervisor ronan are filling empty storefronts across the city. [applause] we are a National Leader in early child care and education. Doubling the number of kids getting care and subsidies in 2018. [applause] and paying our educators a real wage that recognizes them for the work that they do. [applause] we just hosted leaders from around the world for apec, the biggest global stage for San Francisco since the signing of the United Nation charter in 1945. [applause] our parks are the best in the world and we massively expanded outdoor public areas from jfk drive to india basin coming to the southern waterfront. [applause] muni is leading the bay area transit recovery, who would have thought, willie brown . Carrying more riders then all of the other Regional Transit operators combined. We are on pace to hit our goal of zero Green House Gas emission by 2040. We are launching a wnba franchise hosting [applause] hosting the nba all star game, the super ball and fifa world cup [applause] and i envision a San Francisco of walkable, safe, thriving neighborhoods with Great Schools that teach algebra and a strong economy. [applause] where people get the help they need and where everyone is welcomed. I want to thank the voters for supporting this vision on tuesday. By backing these various propositions and the strong rejection of proposition b. [applause] thank you supervisors engardio and matt dorsey on algebra and Police Staffing and conulateulations on scott wiener, matt haeny and [indiscernible] as well as all the new comers come bravely step forward to run for county committee. [applause] and let me Say Something to those in the press claiming tuesday election means San Francisco is not a progressive city anymore. Building homes and adding treatment beds is progressive. [applause] wanting good Public Education and Effective Police force valuing the saturday safety of seniors from chinatown to bayview, immigrant and working families in the tenderloin, is progressive. [applause] we are a progressive diverse city living together celebrating each other. Lgbtq, aapi, black, latino, palestinian and jewish. [applause] that is not changed and that will not change. So, i dont know about you but im tired of the negativity. Im tired of the people who talk about San Francisco as if our troubles are inevitable and our success a flukement our successes are not a fluke, and they are not fleeing. They are the products of years of hard work, collaboration, investment, creativity, perseverance. They are the output of thousands of people in government and out who believe in service, not cynicism. [applause] i want to Say Something to those inside San Francisco and out, who traffic in negativity. To sell ads to advance right wing causes to tear others down or to simply stroke fear for their political convenience. I want to say this on behalf of the real people who you have been disparaging, on behalf of the nurses, the gardeners, janitors, counselors, commissioners, engineers, emergency workers, teachers, the transit operators who dedicate themselves to this city. [applause] on behalfon behalf of our firefighters, 911 dispatchers, the Sheriff Deputies and Police Officer who do lifesaving work under difficult circumstances. On behalf of the Small Business owners thrks bartendser, the artists. On behalf of the women. On behalf [applause] on behalf of the women here who let women everywhere know that we trust them to make their own decisions and offer them a safe haven when they do so. [applause] on behalf of the housing advocate said who started a movement here that has taken root all over the country. [applause] on behalf of the transgender activists and their families chosen or otherwise who made San Francisco and outpost of hope. [applause] on behalf of the city i called home my entire life, which im proud to serve every single day, i offer these words from our 26 president of the united states, teddy roosevelt. You exceez me for updateing the pronouns. [laughter] it is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong woman stumbles, or where the doer of deeds, could have done them better, the credit belongs to the woman who is actually in the arena. [applause] who strives valantly. Who sends herself in a worthy cause. To those outside the arena watching from the sidelines, who offer only criticism, i have a message for you. San francisco is not wearing the shackles of your negativity any longer. [applause] ill say it again, San Francisco is not wearing the shackles of your negativity any longer [applause] to the Public Servants who have been here during the citys most difficult time, doing the work all along, thank you. Thank you for your service. We will continue to move our city forward to be the city of yes. No longer will we allow others to define us, because we know who we are. We are a city on the rise. We are a dragon taking flight. Now, lets soar San Francisco lets soar thank you. [applause] im connie chan district one supervisor and welcome to the richmond. Im an immigrant and came to San Francisco china town when i was 13 years old with my mom and brother. My first job is at the Community Organizer for Public Safety with San Francisco state. And land in the city hall and became a legislative aid to sophie maxwell. Went through city departments when Kamala Harris was our District Attorney im proud to represent the richmondad district supervisor. [music] we have great neighborhood commercial corridors that need to be protected. The reason why we launched the neighborhood business for supporting the [inaudible] for 15 years special more. We have the Legacy Business Program the business around for 30 years or more and thought, you know, we gotta make sure the next generation contains for generations to come. Am im ruth the owner of hamburger haven we came back on july 11. We were opened in 1968 at that time i believe one of the owners of mestart today went through a guy named andy in the early 70s and my father took it mid 70s. Originally was just a burger joint. Open late nights. Then it changed over the years and became the breakfast staple. We specialize in breakfast, brunch come lunch now. I love this neighborhood. I grew up here. And it feels like home. I walk down the block and recognize people of people say hello. You say hello you talk and joke. Has that familiar environment that is enjoyable and i have not experienced anywhere else. There are many things i would like to see improve ams the things we might see are making sure that our tenants stay housed our Small Business in tact and those are the solutions that will contain to push to make sure that you know our communities can take root, stay and thrive. Im proud of you know, welcoming folks to the richmond. Everyone loch its we got Farmers Market every sunday there. The you see really business at the noaa. Ice cream at toy folks and going to chop for book like green apple. And thats when you like the deal is pizza place haall families love. You will see a lot of great chinese shops that is readily available for everyone. And that is just thein are richmond there is more to do in the richmond. What is love is the theatre. I mean adam and with my wife jamie, own Little Company called cinema sf we operate the balboa theatre. The vocabularying theatre on sacramento and soon the 4 star on clement. Balboa theatre opened in 1926 and servicing this Outer Richmond neighborhood since then. And close on the heels the 4 star opens since 1913. When you come in to a movie theatre, the rest of the world has to be left behind. But you get e mersed in the world that is film makers made for you. That is a special experience to very much we can all think of the movies that we saw in the big screen of with everybody screaming or laughing or crying. It is a shared Human Experience that you get when you go in to places that are gatherings and artist presented to you. A shared experience is the most precious. And the popcorn. [laughter]. At the balboa especially, we stroif to have movies for people of every generation from the pop corn palace movies on the weekend mornings, for families and kids. This is for everybody of all ages. What is great about the richmond is it is a neighborhood of the immigrants. Belongs to immigrants not ap i immigrants you will see that there are also a Huge Population of rush wrans and ukrainian immigrants they stay united you am see that the support they lend to each other as a community. And cinderella bakery is another legacy business. If you go on the website it is known as a russian bakery. The first thing you see their pledge to support the ukrainian community. You will see the unity in the richmond im so proud of our immigrant community in the rich monthed. My dad immigrate friday iran the reason he stayed was because of the restaurant. Has more centamential value it is the reasonable we are in this country. When he had an opportunity to take over the instruct he stayed that is why we are here part of our legacy and San Francisco history and like to keep it going for years to come. Another moment im proud to be supporting the richmond and the only Asian American woman elect in the office and as an immigrant that is not happen nothing 3 decades. You see it is my ability to represent especially the asianamerican community. In my case the chinese speaking elders in our community that really can allow me to communicate with them directly. Im Program Director of adult day centers. I have been here for 7 years i love to help the communities and help and the people with disability. I foal a connection with them. I am anim grant i love helping our community and new immigrants and improvements. If you want nature, richmond is the neighborhood to go we are between ocean beach heights and golden gate park. I love the Outer Richmond. For me this is the single best neighborhood in San Francisco. Everybody knows each other. People have been living here forever. It is young and old. The ocean is really near by. And so there is that out doors ocean vibe to it. There are places to seat Golden Gate Bridge it is amazing. Businesses are all small mom and pop businesses. Houses get passed down generation to generation. It has a small town feel but you know you are in a big city at the same time. Its got a unique flavor i dont see in other neighborhoods j. It is about being inclusive we are inclusive and welcome the communities, anybody should feel welcome and belong here and shop local, eat local. We believe that with that support and that network it come in full circle. It is passing on kinds knows. Thats when richmond is about that we are together at once. Welcome to the richmond. [music] once i got the hang of it a little bit, you know, like the first time, i never left the court. I just fell in love with it and any opportunity i had to get out there, you know, they didnt have to ask twice. You can always find me on the court. [ ] we have been able to participate in 12 athletics wheelchairs. They provide what is an expensive tool to facilitate basketball specifically. Behind me are the amazing golden state road warriors, which are one of the most competitive adaptive basketball teams in the state led by its captain, chuck hill, who was a National Paralympic and, and is now an assistant coach on the national big team. It is great to have this opportunity here in San Francisco. We are the main hub of the bay area, which, you know, we should definitely have resources here. Now that that is happening, you know, i im looking forward to that growing and spreading and helping spread the word that needs that these people are here for everyone. I think it is important for people with disabilities, as well as ablebodied, to be able to see and to try different sports, and to appreciate trying different things. People can come and check out this chairs and use them. But then also friday evening, from 6 00 p. M. Until 8 00 p. M. , it will be wheelchair basketball we will make sure it is available, and that way people can no that people will be coming to play at the same time. We offer a wide variety of adaptive and inclusion programming, but this is the first time we have had our own equipment. [ ] my name is bal. Born and raised in San Francisco. Cable car equipment, technically im a transit operator of 135 and work at the cable car indiscernible and been here for 22 years now. I grew up around here when i was a little can i. My mom used to hang in china town with her friends and i would get bored and they would shove me out of the door, go play and find something to do. I ended up wandering down here when i was a kid and found these things. [ music ] fascinated by them and i wanted to be a cable car equipment from the time i was a little kid. I started with the emergency at the end of 1988 and drove a bus for a year and a half and i got lucky with my timing and got here at cable car and at that time, it really took about an average five to maybe seven years on a bus before you could build up your seniority to come over here. Basically, this is the 1890s verse ever a bus. This is your basic Public Transportation and at the time at its height, 1893, there were 20 different routes ask this powerhouse, there and this powerhouse, there were 15 of them through out the entire city. I work at the Cable Car Division and bunch with muni for 25 years and working with cable cars for 23 years. This is called the bar because these things are horses and work hard so they have to have a place to sleep at night. Joking. This is called a barn because everything takes place here and the powerhouse is thats downstairs so thats the heart and soul of the system and this is where the cable cars sleep or sleep at night so you can put a title there saying the barn. Since 1873 and back in the day it was driven by a team and now its electric but it has a good function as being called the barn. Yeah. I am the superintendent of cable car vehicle maintenance. And we are on the first and a half floor of the cable car barn where you can see the cables are moving at nine and a half miles an hour and thats causing the little extra noise were hearing now. We have 28 power cars and 12 california cars for a total of 40 revenue cars. Then with have two in storage. Theres four gear boxes. Its gears of the motor. They weigh close to 20 tons and they had to do a special system to get them out of here because when they put them in here, the barn was opened up. We did the whole barn that year so its difficult for a first of time project, we changed it one at a time and now they are all brandnew. Engineers room have the four monitors that play the speed and she monitors them and in case of an emergency, she can shutdown all four cars if she needs to. That sound you heard there, thats a gentleman building, rebuilding a cable. The cable weighs four hundred pounds each and they lost three days before we have to rebuild them. The cable car grips, the bottom point is underground with the cable. Its a giant buy strip and closes around the kab and they pull it back. The cable car weighs 2,500 people without people so its heavy, emergency pulling it offer the hill. If it comes offer the hill, it could be one wire but if it unravels, it turns into a ball and they cannot let go of it because it opens that wide and its a billion pushing the grip which is pushing the whole cable car and theres no way to let go so they have to have the code 900 to shutdown in emergencies and the wood brakes last two days and wear out. A lot of maintenance. [ music ] rail was considered to be the old thing. Rubber tires, cars, buses, thats new. There were definitely faster and cheaper, theres no question about that. Here at San Francisco, we went through the same thing. The mayor decided we dont need cable cars indiscernible , blah, blah. We can replace them with buses. They are faster and cheaper and more economical and he was right if you look at the dollars and cents part. He was right. Back in 1947 when they voted that, im surprised base of the technology and the chronicle paper says cable cars out. That was the headline. That was the demise of the cable cars. indiscernible came along and said, stop. No. No, no, no. She was the first one to say were going to fight city hall. She got her friends together and they started from a group called the save the cable car community, 1947 and managed to get it on the ballot. Are we going to keep the cable cars or not . Head turned nationwide and worldwide and city hall was completely unprepared for the amount of backlash they got. This is just a bunch the city came out and said basically, 31, if im not mistaken, we want our cars and phil and her group managed to save what we have. And literately if it wasnt for them, there would be no cable cars. People saw Something Back then that we see today that you cant get rid of a beautiful and it wasnt a Historical Monument at the time and now it is, and it was part of San Francisco. Yeah, we had freight back then. We dont have that anymore. This is the number one tourist attraction in San Francisco. Its historic and the only National Moving monument in the world. The city of San Francisco did keep the cable car so its a fascinating feel of having something that is so historic going up and down these hills of San Francisco. And obviously, everyone knows San Francisco is famous for their hills. [laughter] and who would know and who would guess that they were trying to get rid of it, which i guess was a crazy idea at the time because they felt automobiles were taking the place of the cable cars and getting rid of the cable car was the best thing for the city and county of San Francisco, but thank god it didnt. How soon has the city changed . The diverse of cable cars when i first came to cable car, sandy barn was the first cable car. We have three or four being a grip person. Fwriping cable cars is the most toughest and challenging job in the entire city. I want to thank our women who operate our cable cars because they are a crucial space of the city to the world. We have wonderful women come on forward, yes. [cheers and applause] these ladies, these ladies, this is what its about. Continuing to empower women. My name is Willa Johnson is and ive been at cable car for 13 years. I came to San Francisco when i was five years old. And that is the first time i rode a cable car and i went to see a Christmas Tree and we rode the cable car with the christmas worker and that was the first time i rode the cable car and didnt ride again until i worked here. I was in the medical field for a while and i wanted a change. Some people dont do that but i started with the mta of september of 1999 and came over to cable car in 2008. It was a general sign up and thats when you can go to Different Divisions and i signed up as a conductor and came over here and been here since. There were a few ladies that were over at woods that wanted to come over here and we had decided we wanted to leave woods and come to a Different Division and cable car was it. I do know there has been only four women that work the cable car in the 150 years and i am the second person to represent the cable car and i also know that during the 19, i think 60s and women were not even allowed to ride on the side of a cable car so its exciting to know you can go from not riding on the side board of a cable car to actually grip and driving the cable car and it opened the door for a lot of people to have the opportunity to do what they inspire to do. I have some people say i wouldnt make it as a conductor at woods and i came and made it as i conductor and the best thing i did was to come to this division. Its a good division. And i like ripping cable cars. I do. I think she just tapped into the general feeling that San Francisco tend to have of, this is ours, its special, its unique. Economically and you know, a rationale sense, does it make sense . Not really. But from here, if you think from here, no, we dont need this but if you think from here, yeah. And it turns out she was right. So. And im grateful to her. Very grateful. [laughter] three, two, one. [multiple voices] [ches andpplause] did i i did that on purpose so i wouldnt. [ music ] mayor london breed it is valentines day in San Francisco, but we are also celebrating something so significant, something that changed this country for the better. We are celebrating the advocacy of so many of the same sex couples who showed up in San Francisco year after year after year asking for the right to do what anyone has the right to do and that is marry the person theye