we have all flown to hawaii and seen that what we think is an island between here and hawaii and it ain't an island. >> exactly. >> and that is concerning. so i appreciate the spirit of this and everything you have done for small business. >> thank you. thank you. >> commissioner riley. >> well, thank you. and i just wanted to make a comment that i know a lot of people including myself and my fellow commissioners always bring our bags. >> there you go. she has one. and not because of the 10 cents, but because we all care about the environment. it is education and that we provided to the consumers. >> it is. and i absolutely agree with you. now days you don't have to have the big bags that you are hauling around, but just have a little scrunchie in your bag or purse or pocket. and this is the thing that -- trying to bring what you do and what we want most people to do is bring their own thing. in the end, bringing their own bag. i think small businesses especially can be so powerful because the small businesses, they know their customers much better than the larger businesses that are just

i can show you this year alone of people who call tol ask is it okay if we come, we are hawaii or asian or we are this. what should we wear? what do you recommend that we do? >> they say oh, you know, we want a four day of the dead and it's all hybrid in this country. what has happened are paper cuts, it's so hybrid. it has spread to mexico from the bay area. we have influence on a lot of people, and i'm proud of it. >> a lot of tim times they don't represent we represent a lot of cultures with a lot of different perspectives and beliefs. >> i can see the city changes and it's scary. >> when we first started a lot of people freaked out thinking we were a cult and things like that, but we went out of our way to also make it educational through outreach and that is why we started doing the prosession in 1979. >> as someone who grew up attending the yearly processions and who has seen them change incrementally every year into kind of what they are now, i feel in many ways that the cat is out of the bag and there is no putting the genie back into the bottle in how the wider public accesses

met him as program manager for the fta office in region 9 overseeing projects in arizona nevada and hawaii. he will be working with the contractors, the project staff, but more importantly as we get close to the finish line with transit and communications and streets and other agency staff, this turns from capital into part of the muni system. nadine started yesterday. he reviewed albert who agreed to serve as interim central project director, somewhat against his will. i assured him it would be a brief time. that was 18 months ago. he stepped in when john moved on to go to caltrain. as i was talking to him earlier. albert helped navigate the project through some of the most difficult periods in the last year and a half. he has done so professionally probably spent too much time at the expense of his own family. i know they will be glad to get him back. he will stay with the project, and i am hoping he will stay until the end of the project. he has been on the central subway 15 years, normally half of his tenure with the city and was the steadying force through this. with john leaving, my

office here in region nine, overseeing projects in california, arizona, nevada, and hawaii. he will be on point working with the contractors, working with the central subway project staff , but more importantly, as we get close to the finish line with transit and communications and sustainable streets and in the other agency staff, it turns from a capital project into parts of the munimobile system. nadeem started yesterday, and he relieved albert ho who graciously agreed to serve as interim central subway project director, somewhat against his will, and i assured him that it will be for a brief time, and that was 18 months ago. he stepped in when john moved on to go to caltrain, and i was talking to him earlier, albert really helped navigate this project. it was some of the most difficult periods in the last year and a half, and he has done so ably and professionally, probably spent too much time at the expense of his own family. i know they will be glad to be getting him back. you will, of course, stay with the project, and i'm hoping he will stay until the end of the proj