[♪♪♪] >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is sean ellsburn, and

it is my pleasure to be the emcee of these events, and it is great to have everyone back and in the building for the raising of the irish flag. [applause] >> as emcee, it is my responsibility to introduce the various speakers. our first speaker today is my boss, and what i want to say is directed at the more irish society. it's not so much of a thank you, it's a bit of a scolding. there is no one i know who enjoys wearing a sash more than london breed. [applause] >> ever since you made her grand marshal of the 2019 parade, we now have to refer to

here as mayor van marshal the entire month. i saw her on her peloton. she was wearing her sash. all throughout covid on zoom, she was wearing her sash. jim, you have a big legacy to live up to to this grand marshal. [applause] >> so without further adieu, mayor grand marshal london breed. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: i'm not going to fire you today. it's celebration with the irish community, but this is the only sash that i've ever been given in my whole entire life, so yes, i'm going to wear it with pride. so let me just say the reason why we had to move this event

to the south live count is because you were outgrowing the balcony. we've had so many people every single year, so we wanted to do it justice. i just want to say, after two years of a global pandemic where we couldn't connect with one another, i'm so happy to be here today, and thank you so much for coming here today. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: i want to take this opportunity -- and we have the lord mayor of court joining me. thank you so much. we have a number of members of the board of supervisors who joined us upstairs, including

supervisor safai, supervisor haney, supervisor catherine stefani, your host today, supervisor mandelman. i saw our assessor-recorder, david torres. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and thank you so much to our honored guests and counselor general. it is so great to work with counselor general driscoll over the years because he is just really the life of the party, so thank you all so much for being with us today. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: today is more than just a celebration of flag raising, it is a renewing of the relationship that exists between our city and the irish community.

we know that the first irish immigrants who came to san francisco in the 1950s and settled here and created an opportunity for others to come. when we think about that rich and proud history, we can't help but reflect, but, more importantly, the contributions that this community has provided to san francisco have been extremely invaluable. and when i think about the water i drink, which is the best water in the world, hetch hetchy, and the engineering, it came because of the vision of an irish man who knew what san

francisco needs, today and in the future. today, we celebrate 171 years of the st. patrick's day parade, and i can't wait to celebrate that. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: and wait to renew our relationship with our sister city, cork. i am proud of that history and to renew our relationship now and for the generations to come. so with that, and on behalf of the city and county of san francisco -- i need the proclamation, martha, because you know, we're mayors, and we're campaigning, and we're

proclamationing and all that stuff. so first, i want to invite robert driscoll to come forward, and everyone else to come forward. on behalf of the city and county of san francisco, we are declaring today and the entire month of march as irish heritage and friendship day in the city and county of san francisco. [applause] >> the hon. london breed: thank you. but that's not all -- oh, they each get one. so unlike the lord mayor of cork does not live here, so you

won't be able to use it for free parking at the parking meters in san francisco, but our counselor general will, so thank you both. and there's someone else who i had the pleasure of meeting last year, when i appointed him to the san francisco police commission. now, i'm sure, as you watch, it is very, very, very difficult to get anyone through the board of supervisors for an appointment, especially the police jim. and jim byrne and the work that he's done in san francisco has been extraordinary. he grew up in visitacion valley, the son of irish immigrants who came to the u.s. and raised their kids and created a great life for themselves and created a great son who became an attorney,

working to support immigrants in even -- not just in his legal capacity but in his personal professional capacity because of what he believed in, wanting to help people, and that's what his life has been about: helping people, supporting people, not just immigrants from ireland but from other countries, as well. so he served currently as a member, a very thoughtful member of the police commission in san francisco, and yes, he does have big heels to fill, because he was the grand marshal, and proudly so, in 2019. and commissioner, i went to all

of my responsibilities, and i was very proud to do so. i have no doubt you're going to continue the legacy of grand marshal of the parade this year, and so it is my honor to declare today jim byrne day in the city and county of san francisco. [applause] zrn [indiscernible] [applause]

. >> the hon. london breed: isn't she cute? you just may want to have her for the parade. she'll steal the show, because we all know how some people like to boo elected officials. actually, i need to borrow her. i want you all to enjoy yourself as long as you want, have a good time today. i can't wait to see you at the parade tomorrow, and please don't tear up the city on the 17th. thank you all so much. [applause] >> thank you, honorary -- or

no, not honorary, thank you mayor grand marshal. we have a small program for everyone. before we continue, there were just a couple of other folks that i wanted to recognize and say hello too. the former landlord supervisor of the united irish cultural center, now our city administrator, carmen chu, is in the back, so recognize her. [applause] >> a good friend of san francisco's irish community and a good friend of san mateo's irish community, kevin mullen. thank you for joining us, kevin. [applause] >> so we're going to begin the program with san francisco's own, led by mary mckeever, celtic voices.

[applause] >> thank you very much, mary and celtic voices.

our next speaker is the dean of the consular general in san francisco. without further adieu, consular general robert o'driscoll. [speaking native language] >> thank you very much for that kind introduction. guests here, we're graduated to the big room, and thank you very much, mayor breed, for that. it's a phenomenally big room,

so very thankful. those who know me will know that this week was a very special week for me personally because our second native san franciscan child was born here in cpmc. killian lochlan o'driscoll. he will ask me one day, where am i from? where am i people from? and i will say, you are from san francisco. you are from the city by the bay, with one of the greatest irish communities in the entire world. [applause] >> and you can be proud of that

community. that community, from its earliest day, has served the city. today, i want to reflect on mary baptist russell, from the county of cork. she came here in 1856, and served the convent in the city and hospital in the city. the irish government spent $400,000 in grants in the last year on the bay area to irish organizations because you recognize the good work that you do, and the good work that we all saw you do during the pandemic, looking for food provisions, making sure people less fortunate than ourselves are looked after. i was so impressed with the

irish cork society added $1 million of their money. [applause] >> may i just say, we, ireland, and san francisco also have an enormous relationship. we've had a consul here since 1933. we're coming back from the pandemic, and what does that mean? it means that direct flights between ireland and san francisco are back. [applause] >> in the last couple of weeks, you've seen san francisco, california, irish company open their doors. next week, we will open a brand-new ireland house san francisco, a state of the art office here in center city, to connect ireland and san francisco. it's a voter confidence in our

relationship in san francisco, and a believe that ireland's future is intertwined with san francisco. [applause] >> so thank you all so much, and jim, jim, you know how i feel about you. love you, guy. love you, and to all of the other grand marshals, i met you all at the flag raising. thank you so much for being here. thank you. [speaking native language] >> thank you. >> thank you, consular general. we've got a few more highlights before we get to the supervisor's message, but we've got a few more things before we get there. we'll begin with the murphy irish dancers. [♪♪♪]

>> thank you very much, murphy school of irish dancing. now, we're going to bring up the man who leads all of our events, mr. liam frost. >> thank you, sean. public speaking, one of my

favorite things to do. welcome to the 171 st. patrick's day season. before we get started, we're missing two people that were huge to me. one, john moylan, who was a part grand marshal, as well as catherine linehan, and then, our friend in the mayor's office we're honoring this year as one of the honorary grant marshals, charlotte shulze, so i'd like to take a minute to remember them. thank you.

wow, it was two years ago that i was taking off from canada, and i landed a few years later, and sean said, liam, you better call me. that's why it's so amazing to be back this year. mayor london breed, consul general robert o'driscoll, lord general, y'all came out today because we're getting into the spring, and everybody is ready to go. so we're all here today to kick off tomorrow, so thank you. i want to thank the mayor,

london breed. we've got martha, joan, samantha, emily. i think we've become best friends in the last week with all the texts and phone calls, but you've done an amazing job, and this place looks great. thank you. [applause] >> and as our appreciation, i would like to give mayor breed a gift from the united irish societies, and chris delcaro, who's our correspondence secretary, it's kind of self-serving because we're giving her a blank frame that she can put a picture of herself wearing that sash, hopefully with me, so mayor breed. thank you. [applause] >> the reception was put on and hosted by catherine stefani

with the help of adrian roche and her staff, so i want to say thank you for that. i always get choked up when i get to this part because i'm part of a board that's amazing, and to come back after two years and have them be able to put together all the events, it's a well-oiled machine. i get to come up here and take all the acolades, but i get to come up here and take all the credit. to my board. and their families, with all their running around, it's the families that are missing out, especially my wife, mary.

i'm the one answering phone calls, they're the ones doing all the work, and they are ones being separated from their family for this time. but i know come monday, the families will be happy to get them back, so thank you. i do want to single out kathleen manning, the president of the court sister city association as well as our parade director. she's been doing it for a cup of years, and this is her last year. she's going to be giving the baton to james cohen, but i just want to say thank you to kathleen manning. [applause] >> putting on the parade, we get to talk to the mayor's office to help us put on the parade, and we get the contracts with the sfmta, park and rec. chief bill scott, we have mike

redmond here and their staff, traffic north and central police station to keep us safe when we're on that route, and i really want to say thank you to the mayor and all her departments. thank you. [applause] >> it's a huge honor to be the grand marshal of the parade, but there's also a lot of work, and so i want to thank jim because every time i ask him to do something, he does it, and it's immediately, what comes next? our honorary grand marshals are

pat, maureen, james, margaret, and charlotte shulze. thank you for allowing us to honor your families. [♪♪♪] and then, my good friend, collin lyons, grand marshal for two years in a row. he is going to have a special place in the parade that has been set up by his club, and i just want to say collin, i'm sorry that it was two years in a row that we weren't able to get you out there, but thank you for all you've done for us. i appreciate it. [applause] >> the st. patrick's day season, as i like to call it, because we know, as the mayor says it, it's a month. it's more than the parade and the raising the flag and the

dinner. generally, we go to the veterans administration and laguna honda, and mayor breed was at every event, and we appreciate it. this year, because of covid, we could only go to alma villa, but when we do things like that, and we invite the children and the dancers to come with us, it sets the precedent for the future to be in this room. they'll be the ones going and spreading the good cheer, because i'm up here, talking, and they're, like, get off. we want to see the little girls with the curls dancing. we also put on the peter york day, and this is our season. it's a season in san francisco, and when i say our season, i mean san francisco, i mean the irish, and if you live in san francisco, you all know, you're

part of a family: the san francisco family, just as in an irish family: faith, family, and tradition, so i invite everyone to be irish and come out to the parade and celebrate. thank you all. [applause] >> thank you, liam. now, my honor to introduce a long time members of the irish san francisco community, the cochair of the cork san francisco sister city committee and someone i have been whispering in his ear for the last -- well, liam, you kind of talked longer than you are supposed to, you have 30 seconds, turman, to introduce the mayor of court. see if you can stick with it. >> thank you, sean, and a happy st. patrick's day to everybody. it is with great honor i now

introduce the lord mayor of cork, counselor collin kelleher. >> thank you. it's an honor for me to be here. i'd just like to thank mayor london breed for the invitation. the relationship we have with san francisco is going into its 39 year last year, and i would just like to pay special thank you to kathleen manning, in addition to the chair of the sister city program. counselor general robert, i spoke with [indiscernible] and when the call was finished, i said to maureen, was he from

the north of ireland because he said -- [speaking native language] >> it's an honor to be here in city hall for the flag raising ceremony. it's something that i will remember personally for the rest of my life. counselor former mayor jeff sheehan was supposed to be here two years, but because of the pandemic, we had to cancel the trip. the last lord mayor, lord finn, was the last lord mayor who could be here. we have counselor derry county,

and we have our chief executive, fann dougherty, and paul moynahan. power, we know you give it with one hand, it's taken away by another hand just as quick. mayor breed, we were going out for dinner, and she asked to be in the same restaurant. she came over briefly and said, how are you. i said great. she said, i want to go to ireland, and i said somebody said you mentioned you wanted to stay in a castle. she said, i don't want my room to be too warm. i said, you have no problem there because all of our rooms

there are cold. in san francisco, the amount of irish lineage since i've been here has been heartwarming. after the great famine, we went to all four corners of the world, and wherever we went, we laid down roots. i must speak to him again because he had a great grand uncle who came to the west

coast in the 1940s. we never again heard from him, mcauliffe. i met a lady at the irish center yesterday, and she said, i need to talk to you the day of the parade, so god willing, i may have found long lost relatives, so god willing, i'm looking forward to the parade tomorrow. [applause] >> this was not a booby trap. i was presented with this two years ago from charlotte shulze at city hall. it's very special to me and i think to everyone in the mayor's office that we still have so many memories of her still in the building. [applause] >> before we leave, i just want to recognize the new supervisor

from district 4, the head of the irish cultural center, gordon mar. supervisor, thanks for being here. supervisor, thanks for being here. [applause] >> and then, standing to his left, i want to make sure i also recognize the other cochair of the san francisco sister city committee, nora sheehan. thank you for being here. [applause] >> and now, we are going to bring up the next group of performers from the wheeling irish dance group. come on up, guys. [applause]

[applause] >> okay. we're almost done, everyone. i did want to recognize -- liam recognized chief redmond in the back. this is a bold statement to make in the month of st. patrick's day, but i will recognize perhaps the best

irish soda bread maker at least in city hall, under sheriff joe engler turning very red there under his white mask. thank you, undersheriff. so if i could ask supervisor stefani to come up, who is going to play announcer for the rest of the program. could i ask noreen or dermott, mary from the celtic voices, someone from the murray academy, and someone from the irish dancers.

i just want to give something to you. all right, everybody. and then, we are going to conclude with supervisor stefani, who's going to tell you what we do next, right? thank you, everyone. >> supervisor stefani: thank you, josh. oh, my gosh, it is so amazing to see all of you. i am so happy, and that's not a feeling that i feel often. it is so fitting that we are opening back up with the irish flag raising and this party, given that two years ago, it was in my office when we were talking about what was going to do next, how we wash our hands,

where we buy masks. i can't thank you all enough for being here. people get confused. my name is stefani. i am italian, but as my mother says, i am also a quarter irish, and i just want to recognize a member of my staff, andy mullen, who just became an irish citizen, as well. we can't wait to share this event with you, but just a few words. it's so exciting to hear from mayor breed and the lord mayor of cork and the chair of the san francisco cork sister city committee and police commissioner jim byrne. i have to say, his patience,

tolerance and restraint were qualifications to get to be grand marshal, that's your qualifications. i am grateful that you are committed to public service and to the safety of san franciscans, so thank you, commissioner byrne. i also want to take a moment to extend my deepest thanks to consular general robert o'driscoll for his services in san francisco and across the united states. the consular general's term will end in just a few months, but we will always remember his legacy, and i want to go over a few of them. during his term, he supported the irish community center's development of the irish center 2025 project, starting the irish business chamber of

california, bringing the st. bridget's day to san francisco and helping thousands of irish american people through the work of the consulate. thank you, consul general o'driscoll. we're so proud for your work, and we have a commendation for all of your incredible service to the city and county of san francisco, so thank you for your work. [indiscernible]. >> supervisor stefani: oh, sure. i also want to thank all of these people who made this day

possible, san francisco chamber of commerce, the dugan family, miss susan frost and adrian roche, and my legislative aide, emily abraham, who did a lot of work today. so great to see everyone, can't wait to be in the parade tomorrow, and have a great time. [♪♪♪]

. >> the san francisco carbon fund was started in 2009. it's basically legislation that was passed by the board of supervisors and the mayor's office for the city of san francisco. they passed legislation that said okay, 13% of the cost of the city air travel is going to go into a fund and we're going to use the money in that fund to do local projects that are going to mitigate and sequester greenhouse gas emission. the grants that we're giving, they're anywhere from 15,000

to, say, $80,000 for a two year grant. i'm shawn rosenmoss. i'm the development of community partnerships and carbon fund for the san francisco department of environment. we have an advisory committee that meets once or twice a year to talk about, okay, what are we going to fund? because we want to look at things like equity and innovative projects. >> i heard about the carbon fund because i used to work for the department of environment. i'm a school education team. my name is marcus major. i'm a founding member of climate action now. we started in 2011. our main goal it to remove carbon in the public right-of-way on sidewalks to build educational gardens that teach people with climate change. >> if it's a greening grant,

75% of the grant has to go for greening. it has to go for planting trees, it has to go for greening up the pavement, because again, this is about permanent carbon savings. >> the dinosaur vegetable gardens was chosen because the garden was covered in is afault since 1932. it was the seed funding for this whole project. the whole garden,ible was about 84,000 square feet, and our project, we removed 3,126 square feet of cement. >> we usually issue a greening rft every other year, and that's for projects that are going to dig up pavement, plant trees, community garden, school garden. >> we were awarded $43,000 for this project. the produce that's grown here is consumed all right at large by the school community. in this garden we're growing

all kinds of organic vegetables from lettuce, and artichokes. we'll be planting apples and loquats, all kinds of great fruit and veggies. >> the first project was the dipatch biodiesel producing facility. the reason for that is a lot of people in san francisco have diesel cars that they were operating on biodiesel, and they were having to go over to berkeley. we kind of the dog batch preferentials in the difference between diesel and biodiesel. one of the gardens i love is the pomeroy rec center. >> pomeroy has its roots back to 1952.

my name is david, and i'm the chamber and ceo of the pomeroy rehabilitation and recreation center. we were a center for people with intellectual and development cal disabilities in san francisco san francisco. we also have a program for individuals that have acquired brain injury or traumatic brain injury, and we also have one of the larger after school programs for children with special needs that serves the public school system. the sf carbon fund for us has been the launching pad for an entire program here at the pomeroy center. we received about $15,000. the money was really designed to help us improve our garden by buying plants and material and also some infrastructure like a drip system for plants.

we have wine barrels that we repurposed to collect rain water. we actually had removed over 1,000 square feet of concrete so that we could expand the garden. this is where our participants, they come to learn about gardening. they learn about our work in the greenhouse. we have plants that we actually harvest, and eggs from our chickens that we take up and use in cooking classes so that our participants learn as much as anybody else where food comes from. we have two kitchens here at the pomeroy center. one is more of a commercial kitchen and one is more setup like a home kitchen would be, and in the home kitchen, we do a lot of cooking classes, how to make lasagna, how to comsome eggs, so this grant that we received has tremendous value, not only for our center, for our participants, but the entire community.

>> the thing about climate, climate overlaps with everything, and so when we start looking at how we're going to solve climate programs, we solve a lot of other problems, too. this is a radical project, and to be a part of it has been a real honor and a privilege to work with those administrators with the sf carbon fund at the department of environment. >> san francisco carbon grant to -- for us, opened the door to a new -- a new world that we didn't really have before; that the result is this beautiful garden. >> when you look at the community gardens we planted in schools and in neighborhoods, how many thousands of people now have a fabulous place to walk around and feel safe going outside and are growing their own food. that's a huge impact, and we're just going to keep rolling that out and keep rolling that

>> good evening. this is a meeting of the san francisco commission on the environment. the date is tuesday, march 22nd. the time is 5:04p.m. the ringing in use of cellphones, pagers and similar devices are prohibited. the chair may order the removal of anyone using a phone or similar device. the ringing of cell phone with happen virtually. turn your devices off. due to the covid-19 health