Really excited about and want to focus on today is the incredible partnership of all the members of the Small Business community that are here today. Where are you, jason . Raise your hand. Hi, jason from shop small saturday. Thank you very much for your partnership and continued klb ration. Collaboration. We have mark quite thesing, regina dickendreezy, the council of district merchants has been a critical partner of ours as well. We have the Council District of merchants here as well. Juan of the things that were really proud of and really inspired by is our mayor, ed lee. The mayor came to us four years ago, the office of Economic Workforce Development and said i challenge you to create a program and campaign that gets more shopping done in our local neighborhoods. Increase the amount of spending to support jobs and Small Businesses and also support taxes and the vitality of our neighborhoods. And we, through the incredible work of Mariane Thompson and gloria chan, Joaquin Torres in the office of Economic Workforce Development launched this program to do exactly that. To encourage and challenge san franciscans to do more in our Small Business community. Mayor lee has done more than any mayor that i know to invest and support in Small Businesses, directing more money and investing more money than any administration in the citys history to support Small Businesses through the invested neighborhoods program, by launching a Small Business portal, by meeting constantly with our Small Business leaders and as a tireless advocate for the issues that they care about most. It is my honor and privilege to introduce mayor lee. [applause] thank you. Thank you, todd. Good morning, everybody. Let me correct todd because i want to make sure you understood the challenge. I challenged him to find me more ice cream. That was the real challenge. And im really happy to be here. At the Ice Cream Museum. This is one of those innovative ideas, very unique to the city and, of course, theyre getting booked up like crazy and were in the heart of our shopping and union square and, of course, the chief and i already have enough chants. We need some opportunities to smile and, of course, were about to jump into this speckle pool. Forgive us if we have too much fun. The holidays are beginning. Were going to have lots of fun. I want people to not just come to the city but take advantage of really supporting the backbone of our Business Community and Small Businesses and people here, karen fled knows union square is at the heart of a lot of things that we do during the holidays. You have jeffries toys, my favorites. Theyre a legacy business in the city. And keep supporting them. [shouting] well have all of the different Business Associations that are working together with us. But the experience is all about fun. Safe fun. And that is why the chief and i will be doing a lot of things over the holidays to make safe shopper programs, to provide the safety level that people have. Reduce the Harm Reduction program on our streets. Make sure people, as many people can get off of our streets. While work on those hard things. In between those difficult, challenging things, we want to work with our Business Community to provide safe fun for the kids that will be here. Thousands of kids over the holidays, families. People from all over the world that are taking advantage of this wonderful city that we have. And were doing this with programs, yes, that we funded but we want to make sure that Everything Else is working for folks on the longterm. Small businesss are so important to cities like San Francisco. More than the backbone, they provide the innovative, the Cultural Diversity all over our neighborhoods. This is one big area. But listen, shop and dine in the 49 is about shopping in all of our neighborhoods. Allow them to give you cultural innovation, Small Business innovations, shopping small innovation because when people put their entire lives behind their Small Businesses, you should see the innovation that comes out of their ideas, their service, their good patronages of products and designs that are locally sensitive and culturally rich. Wanted to say thank you to this museum for starting out their innovation. I think kids already have ice cream in them because they are jumping up and down before they come in. To our restaurants, our Golden Gate Restaurant Association will be very full this year. Probably hard to get reservations. But persevere. Use every app that you can or, like i do, walk in with a 5 bill or something and hand somebody. Then they will give you a seat. The oldfashioned way. But i know mark is excited because Small Businesses really are our engine and creating even more and they not only love our support, we love supporting them. But i want to emphasize shop and dine in the 49. Go to that app. If you really want to have a lot of information about those stores. And well be on the streets to make sure everybody is safe and enjoying themselves. Of course, this is thanksgiving. So, were going to, just after this, well be handing out a lot of turkeys to people if their need. We have fire victims up north that are in need. We have people on the streets that are in need. I want to make sure that the spirit, the principles that we operate on, are right in front of us. Right in the front of everything that we do, that we support, everybody that needs that help and thats why these this is so wonderful because they are often the untold, unknown heroes that come out and do a lot of gift donations and support that never gets covered and i want the media to cover them. Cover all of our Small Businesses as they really are the help that we want to have. So thank you very much, everybody. And shop and dine in 49. Happy holidays. [applause] thank you, mayor. As the mayor said, this Holiday Season is about shopping local and shoppinging safe. It is my honor to welcome our fantastic chief of police, chief scott. Thank you. [applause] good morning, everybody. I couldnt have said it better than mayor lee. [kids shouting] and this place is fun in here. Im not a big ice cream eater, but my entire family is. Im sure i will be here many times during the holidays. This is my favorite time of year and it is my favorite time of year because the Holiday Season, thanksgiving, the Holiday Season, it brings out the best in communities. It is a time where were selfless, we give, we come together as a community. And definitely shop and dine in the 49 is, i think, the way to go. This time last year, even before i got hired by mayor lee to be the chief here, we were here during this period last years and i remember Walking Around, basically Walking Around this area and just going to the different businesses and it was an experience. For those of you who have lived here all your lives, when you come here from another city and experience this great city, it is really something to behold. So, we want to make sure that that experience is shared and that people can do that safely. I have a couple of tips that i want to share with you. I have a long list. But im going to be very quick in reading rattling off this list of safety tips. First of all, cell phones. We all have em. We all use them. And sometimes im as guilty of it as anybody else. Im walking and texting and on the phone and im not paying attention to what im doing. Take a minnesota Pay Attention to your surroundings. I know were a cell phone generation. We live on these things but they can be distracting. It is really important when you are shopping, particularly going to the bank and the a. T. M. , buying things for your family and loved ones, Pay Attention to your surroundings. There is nothing more important than vigilance. If we are to be a resilient city, there is some basic things that we can do. If youre using your a. T. M. , block your p. I. N. Number so it is not visible. Really basic thing. But unfortunately we still have people if our society that will make a living and make a profit off of stealing p. I. N. Numbers and then getting into your bank account and taking your funds. Block your p. I. N. Numbers. Make sure you look at your surroundings when you are at the a. T. M. No matter what you are, look at your surroundings. If you are driving to your location, number one, Public Transportation is great here. Take advantage of Public Transportation. But if you are driving, make sure you lock your car, first of all. Make sure that you put things away that are visible. If you have a trunk, put it in the trunk. Dont leave valuables if your car. We have a program were calling park smart. It has been very successful. But that means to park smart. Dont leave your valuables if your car for somebody else to take them away. The last thing you want to do have your hold day season ruined by somebody else breaking your car window and taking out the things that you work hard to provide your family and friends and loved ones. So park smart. The next thing, if you are shoppinging, make sure when you some people will shop and theyll go and load up their car and then go and shop. There are things you can do to prevent being an easy victim for that. If you are shopping, if you are going to load your car, take the time to move your car to another location. Because people that are going to prey on innocent people, they do watch what you do. So move your car around. I know it is a little bit of an inconvenience, but it does help. If youre Walking Around with packages and loaded up on the arm, again Pay Attention to your surroundings because you dont want to become easy prey. Our city overall is a very safe city. But there are things that we can do to be resilient and individual lends and some of these things may sound like common sense. When you are caught in the moment of the day sometimes you lose track of what you are doing and you get distracted. The main thing is to Pay Attention. Pay attention to what you are doing. If you do that your resiliency goes up and your vigilance goes up. The last thing is look out for your neighbors. If you see something, say something. The cell phones that i just mentioned, be safe in doing so. But if you have a situation where you need to call 311 or 911, do that. 911 is an emergency situation. Somebody is getting a, thated f you see a crime in progress, thats a 911 call. If your car gets broken into and there is no danger, that is a 311 call. Well get there and take a report. Or you can do that report online. I want to end this on a positive note. I started this with this season is all about giving, sharing and taking care of each other. I think if we do that, that is a resilient San Francisco that we all know we can be. Lets take care of each other and be a community and enjoy your Holiday Season. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, chief. As i mentioned earlier, the shop and dine the 49 campaign is a partnership with the Small Business community but also with other government leaders. It is my honor to introduce and recognize our s. B. A. District representive, fewly appointed just a couple of months ago. Come on up, julie. [applause] good morning. First of all, mayor lee and chief scott for your great support of the Small Business community. S. B. A. Is really proud to cosponsor, again, Small Business saturday with American Express and women impacting public policy. They have been tremendous supporters of this initiative across the country. And i know jason and lynn are here today and we have a representative from American Express. Thank you for your dedication and your support of the Small Business community. We have been part of this or the Small Business saturday has been around since 2010 and its really been exciting to watch this initiative grow year after year. Last year was a recordbreaking year with about 112 Million Consumers out shopping small and dining small across the country. They saw 68 increase in the neighborhood champions can. I know this year with all this momentum and excitement, maybe fueled by a little sugar from the ice cream, that we can even beat those numbers. Im looking forward to seeing everyone out and about on saturday. In your various communities. So why Small Business . I mean, we all know Small Businesses create jobs, they fuel the local economy, spark innovation. Thats all true. But Small Businesses are more than that. They are actually what makes our communities unique. It helps us define our neighborhoods. So, when you support a Small Business, you are supporting your friends and neighbors. They tend to hire from a local community. They tend to support local initiatives. Philanthropic events. So when these Small Businesses thrive, we all benefit. So, at s. B. A. , of course, were here to be your Small Business resource. So any Small Business loaners out there today, know that you have the skills and talent and ambition, but if you ever need a little bit of help, s. B. A. Is here to help you as well, where you need counseling, training, financial assistance, or youre looking for new opportunities such as exporting or government contracting. Please remember to call upon us. But the message for the takeaway today is saturday. Please go out, take your friends and neighbors and remind them it is Small Business saturday. Go shop at your Favorite Local merchants, go dine at your favourite local restaurant and if you have out of town guests, this is the perfect time to show off all those fun places that you love and adore to patronize on a daily basis. So i encourage everyone to amplify this message and encourage all of your friends and neighbors to shop small and dine small. [applause] thank you, julie. As you all know, what this ultimately is about is about the Small Businesses and were doing this to support them, to support their vitality in the city. It is an honor to be able to welcome up matthew lunn whos the owner of jefferys toys. Now jefferys toys was nominated by mayor lee as a legacy business. They have been around since 1938 in San Francisco. And that is a really long time. I know matthew is going to explain a little more action their story. But i want to welcome you up there to tell that story for all of us. [applause] thank you. First up i want to say that my dad and my step mom are the owners of jefferys toys. Im here as one of the supporters of jefferys toys. You know, when i was born, it was not it was pretty unusual that my parents owned the most familyrun toy stores in the bay area. Find that as a normal way to grow up as a kid. Prison awesome when it is your birthday or a holiday, right . But my parents didnt start the toy stores, jeffery toys. My grandparents operated it before them and then my great grand parents are really the ones that started the toy stores. Wow. What a great way to grow up. All that creativety and play and uniqueness made me want to continue to live a life where i could play and be creative. And i ended up working at pixar at the very beginning when the studio began. On toy story. No coincidence, right . [applause] [laughter] and you Better Believe when we needed to give reference on what toys would be in that film, you know the toy store we went to, we went to jefferys toys toy story one, two, and three. I spends over half my life at pixar, which has been awesome. When i hear that the toy store was being closed down on Market Street, it broke my heart. I was like this cannot be possible in a city that is all about creativity and play and uniqueness. We cant lose jefferys toys. That is when i came in and said to my dad and stepmom, there is no way were letting this happen. And then with the support of the city, support of the mayor and the legacy program, we were able to just open up our toy store once again in the city, just a couple of months ago. So, we think we think we can still safely say weve been here since 1966. But, you know, in a world of amazon and walmart and all this, people still want an experience. People still want to come in and be able to touch the toys, be able to touch the productses, to be able to have an experience. The same kind of experience you get when you see a film. Right . People still want that. And in the city that is the most, in my opinion, the most creative, unique city in the world, we gotta have a toy store. W