MAYOR LONDON BREED DELIVERS STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS
For the complete text of Mayor Breed’s State of the City speech, go to: https://sfmayor.org/mayor-london-n-breeds-2021-state-city-address
For the video of the State of the City, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTV0CTigETs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, January 28, 2021
Contact: Mayor’s Office of Communications, mayorspressoffice@sfgov.org
*** PRESS RELEASE ***
MAYOR LONDON BREED DELIVERS STATE OF THE CITY ADDRESS
Mayor Breed lays out her vision for San Francisco’s recovery from COVID-19, with continued focus on public health, supporting small businesses, creating more housing, and addressing challenges around mental health and homelessness
San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed today delivered the State of the City, in which she laid out her vision for San Francisco’s recovery from COVID-19 and her policy priorities for 2021, including helping small businesses, building housing, advancing her Homelessness Recovery Plan, getting kids back in school, investing in infrastructure projects that create jobs, and supporting arts and cultural institutions.
Drawing on San Francisco’s history of resilience, Mayor Breed spoke of her optimism for the future of San Francisco and her goals to ensure the city continues its strong COVID-19 response and get on the road to recovery: “The fact is the state of our city is resilient, and it is resilient because of what all of us, every one of us, have accomplished this past year,” said Mayor Breed.
Due to COVID-19, the speech was live streamed from the Moscone, and the public was invited to watch virtually. The Moscone Center, which is San Francisco’s main convention center, has served as the City’s COVID-19 Command Center since March 2020. San Francisco’s second high-volume vaccination site will soon open at the Moscone Center, following the first high-volume vaccination site which opened last week at City College.
Mayor Breed spoke of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of the past year. She recognized the strength and sacrifice of San Franciscans, and their efforts to protect one another over the past year: “Years from now, people will look back on what we’ve done, and I hope they will remember not the frustration and pain we feel now, but the love we showed, the lives we saved. Take pride in that, San Francisco. Find hope in that.”
Mayor Breed outlined her plans for San Francisco’s recovery and expressed her confidence in the future of San Francisco: “San Francisco has always been and will continue to be a magnet, a destination, a place that draws people. We are the City of Pride. Today, with hard lessons learned, and so much yet to do, I believe we are at the start of an incredible recovery. We aren’t just going to repair. We are going to reinvigorate. To come back even stronger.”
To support San Francisco’s recovery, Mayor Breed presented her policy priorities for this year to create jobs, support businesses, and ensure San Franciscans have opportunities to succeed and thrive. These efforts include cutting red tape that makes it difficult to open and operate small businesses, directing more than $3.5 billion in public infrastructure investments, and continuing the Mayor’s commitment to building 5,000 units of housing per year and streamlining the housing approval process.
She commended the work of San Francisco’s health care workers and other frontline workers throughout the pandemic. In particular, Mayor Breed spoke of the health care workers at Laguna Honda Hospital, and their efforts to keep residents and employees safe throughout the pandemic, and most recently, to administer COVID-19 vaccines to residents and workers. As of Wednesday, January 27, Laguna Honda residents have received two doses of the vaccine and are fully vaccinated.
“The men and women at Laguna Honda, the nurses, doctors, paramedics, and staff there, along with all those taking care of people in need across the City, they are the heroes. They are the best of us. […] Thanks to our frontline workers, the Department of Public Health, and everyone who did their part, COVID was contained at Laguna Honda.”
Additionally, Mayor Breed expressed optimism with the recently announced reopening of some businesses and activities, and the ongoing administration of COVID-19 vaccines. She referenced San Francisco’s plan to facilitate 10,000 vaccine doses per day, as soon as supply is available, and recognized the private healthcare partners who are working with the City to make that possible.
“Today, San Francisco can begin to recover. Today, we can begin to re-open our doors, re-open our businesses, begin to resume our lives. With some restrictions, and many, many precautions, of course…but we are reopening. We are vaccinating more and more people each day, and very soon we will open another large vaccination site right here at Moscone Center. And with support from the state and the new Biden-Harris administration in the White House, we have a plan to administer 10,000 vaccinations a day.”
Additionally, Mayor Breed spoke of the importance of advancing her Homelessness Recovery Plan, which includes the creation of 1,500 units of Permanent Supportive Housing, supporting San Francisco families by working with the School District to get kids back in school, and helping arts and cultural institutions—such as music venues, clubs, and bars—survive the pandemic and reopen. She committed to continuing reforms to the criminal justice system through programs like the Street Crisis Response Teams, which divert non-criminal 911 calls away from police and allow officers to focus on violent crimes and burglaries.