community base agencies and the youth and violence prevention agencies that deanna is heading up in our office and paul and the others working hard at doing this, but again we ask for everybody's help. if you really are concerned or see anything that we need to get done please let us know possible public and private side. i also want to complement our private sector. i was there at the building operations, owners, manager's association just yesterday and when we called out for san francisco orange pride week gosh we got a lot of volunteers and that enthese yusm has helped and even larry baer said "i can't believe the number of buildings and the opera hall and the ferry building and the private buildings and coit tower and voluntarily celebrated with us,

so that is incredible unity in the city. moving to another topic because we will cover these later i wanted to make sure i mentioned that within these last few months through the cooperation of our city administrator naomi kelly we have appointed a manager of the caps program, and of course that is the community action plan for seismic safety. it is a plan we wanted to make sure that was lead by someone who can immediately get on the ground and figure out all of the things that we need to do to make sure the soft story buildings which are the most important focus that we have to have for the next seismic event and starts with that planning with all of us, so i wanted to make sure to introduce and congratulate patrick otiline who has come aboard to take care of this

incredible responsibility. patrick, thank you very much for being here today. [applause] i will note that currently the caps program is lodged under city mmptdor's office and a conversation i had when i was city administrator and we wanted to put it at a place, but it is there for now, but with patrick's help we will make sure that program flourishes at the right place and with all the different resources that we have to have along with my commitment we will have appropriate legislation in due time when we are ready when placed out before the voters what we require but we will do that in collaboration and not talking out because it is expensive and we know lives are at stake and we have to do it the right way and have a program that will work for everybody. now, i also want to say to you that there has been a person certainly in my own career as a public

servant that has been impactful. i met rear admiral john banoff in 89 after the earthquake. he was still with the navy. helped us tremendously with a aircraft carrier and the work in recovery, and in 1992 mayor jordan sought to seek his leadership and have him head up what is today our dem but at that time it was the office of emergency services so for five years i got to work with admiral bit off and lead the effort at oes but at the time that we really required some strong leadership because it was shortly after the 101

california shootings that we realized very clearly different agencies within the city had to speak more deliberately with each other, had to have systems and communications and culture built around much more collaboration, particularly with communication. well, that spawned this particular building, and its housing of not only the emergency management, but its physical location of our 911 emergency dispatch system which is right upstairs, and that was started on and under the leadership of admiral bit dlf off. it was concluded very well. he then went on to what i say was parallel to me because i thought i was having the best job of my life of purchaser and we all got a different call and he went to the school district and we had fun with the most difficult assignments we could get, and if you ever work with

the school district, and i know the school district is here it's a hard job, but it's one that he focused on with respect to their assets, their property, their role in emergency management and has faithfully well represented them for all these years and i think it was later, earlier last year you sought that big "r" admiral to retire and i know you're here with your wife maureen. thank you very much for being here. i would lieg to commend the admiral for all your years, for the critical years and being a friend to us because you have always been very approachable. for those that work in civic life for years appreciate the people that have a complete open door, don't wall

themselves off because of their expertise and know that we all need to be educateed in the different roles and you have been doing that and you have been a friend to me when i was learning to expand our roles and whether it was dpw or the human rights commission you have been a great friend to the city, so with they would like you to come forward and receive due recognition with a special proclamation and as you come forward and due to his wonderful history here not only will we present this proclamation in our appreciation but we would like to announce in concert with our dm staff and crew and all of you here we are dedicating the naming of this operation's center to be rear admiral john

bitoff the emergency operations center for the city and county of san francisco. [applause] . >> well, thank you very much very much mayor. it's a pleasure working with you. you're a consummate servant and it's a great pleasure working with the great people that manage this city and i thought it would be worth while if i could just take a couple of minutes, and i have the mayor's

permission to make a couple of remarks and to tell you that i first set foot on this spot the day after the 1989 lo preaida earth yaik. mayor jordan -- mayor agnose called me and said "i need help". i said "i will do whatever i can". he said "can you meet with me and i have a laundry list of things" and absolutely where do you want to meet? i am at the command center on turk street. i asked what the cross streets are. you know the bridge is down. can i land my helicopter there? yeah and lee got the police to

clear the park. >> >> i came in here. the mayor was waiting for me and he took me down in the basement of the fire department communication's center to what was the fire department was the bedroom for the firefighters in the 911 -- in their 911 -- in their portion of the 911. i couldn't believe it. they moved beds aside, and they had butcher paper on the wall and i will never forget this. there was a consiewl general talking long distance on one of the out going lines and nobody could get him off the phone. people were coming in off the streets. it was terrible. i could not believe that a great city like this did not have a proper command

center. as i walked a way with the mayor i said something that i later regretted. someone asked me "what did you think?" and i said "i felt like i just came out of a mississippi sheriff's office". it was grim, grim. and there is a lesson in that. issue careful what you wish for and be careful what criticize and who you criticize because you maybe wearing it. i responded to the mayor's request. we eventually had marine corps personnel and conducting recovery and rescue and we rescued all kinds of people from the collapsed

freeway and we brought an aircraft carrier in here and took the heat off of the city and took 500 homeless people on the aircraft carrier for a week. it was a wonderful exercise in taking care of the more fragile among us. anyway fast forward three and a half years newly elected mayor he asks me to be the director of emergency services and i really didn't want to do it because of what i have seen and he went to my house and my wife wanted to. >> >> live in san francisco so my goose was cooked. i took over the job and i planned to return to the east coast. there was one staff member, no vehicles, no money, no nothing, and through the good efforts of a director of public works at the

time they built seismically configured foundations and they brought in double wides and built the interim emergency command center which is the community building over there and that was where we were. no furniture, no telephones, no nothing. i came the first day and ask where is the command center? it's in construction. it's that area in the park and you have one employee. she's not really yours. she was the mayor's pir, public relations person, and she's been -- apparently that was siberia for seem for people from the mayor's office so anyway -- i mean you have to tell it like said mr. mayor.

when you take a job like this you get all kinds of advice from people. i wish i got more help than i got advice and one of the pieces of advice said got said "you want to get rid of her immediately. she's a pain in the stern sheets. she's rude. and she uses bad words" , so i met her and i immediately liked her, and i immediately admired her. i have enough experience and i don't give a dam about the packaging. i want to know what is inside. this woman was so smart. she helped me so much to navigate the board of supervisors. you have to realize now coming out of the navy and into san francisco politics is like coming out of a

convent. you know it is. it was not easy, and so -- that woman helped me. she knew the clerk of the board. she knew the president of the board. she knew everyone. she knew how to write the memos and we became fast friends and that's when -- in fact she just wanted to get enough time to retire and get health benefits and i liked her so much i had a party for her in my home. anne kronberg was there and head of the mayor's office on criminal justice, and her name was eileen maloney. she was terrific. assistant police chief by the name of frank reid tried to dissuade me from taking the job. "don't take it and two weeks later if something happens they will blame you" but i like to take

on jobs. well, he kind of felt sorry for me, and i had no vehicles, nothing, no employees. the door bell rang and there is a police officer outside and the chief sent these keys. you have a unmarked police car until you get a vehicle. well, i paid them back. three weeks later i was driving down venice and left on to broadway and the radio went on and strong arm robbery in pacific heights and woman assaulted and bag stolen and identified the car and two individuals and proceeding north on lawenna. gee, i am going in that direction. i have a naval aif eightor's eye and

incredible eye sight and wouldn't you know it there is the vehicle coming straight towards me and the traffic was slow and could reach out and touch and i made a u turn and i got on the roo. the director of radio services had a call sign at the time and close to the police chiefs. i got on and called in and there was a pregnant pause. and they said "who are you sir?" and i said "i'm the director of emergency services" a "are you a police officer?" "no, i'm not" and do you have a gun? no, i don't. "you should be careful and don't approach that car" and "need help and he's making a left"

and by the time we got to geary black and whites were all over the place and apprehended the person and i got a call from alex faigen who was the later the police chief. he was a friend of mine. he said "well, admiral do we have to give you credit for an assisted arrest" and i said "you bet your life too and i also want a sf tv star" and anyway those small things happen. i paid the police department and the city back. we put this together with a group of volunteerses, the original command center. the wonderful volunteers that exist in san francisco. not people advising you but people coming here doing stuff and they represented the great cross section of san francisco. had two retired school teachers who

came to this temporary building everyday for five years, and provided administrative assistance. they were wonderful. one of them was mary louise green. dave ebberly -- you haven't heard that name. he was the guy bouncing around and i found out he was the volunteer driver of the emergency vehicle that we had which was parked in a fire house at the other end of the city and get a call at 2:00 o'clock in the morning and get in that vehicle, and i later learned -- i'm sorry dave. i didn't understand at the time. it was manual transmission and manual brakes and i wish i could have hired him and he he is and

somebody was smart enough to bring him with when they had sufficient funds. i was assisted by the young turks and the police department. i had deputy sheriffs come here on a first exercise and said "admiral we like what you're doing. we're off duty. can we provide security for you?" . that's the kind of stuff that happened. it was actually amazing. i had a guy came in here kind of pushy. he started giving me communications advice. somebody said "oh god you don't want to deal with that guy. he's a guy activist. a pain in the neck" and let me follow you something i lived my whole life with heterosexual pains in the next and he's

genius. and most of the communication center was developed by that guy. it's not the packaging. i frequently sign for my supper. rich ard golden the great fill an to 50 here in the city. >> >> >> asked me to speak before the presidio homeowners association and i did and do you know what happened after? a young woman identified herself as the head of a small family foundation and said "what do you need admiral?" and i need computers and pentium computers came out and were the fastest thing. i need those computers. all three buildings were outfitted by that foundation, by that woman. i had more computers than the police department and the fire department and before i had nothing and it was interesting. i said to the mayor -- mayor

jordan how do i approach these people? how do i do it? and he said "well, john i heard you speak before. just throw one of your guilt trips on them" and it worked. i know time is running out. i will make this quick but i wanted you to know how we got here. it didn't happen. it wasn't magic and this building as the mayor told you was a direct result of a tragedy on 101 california street and went up in the building and the crazed gun man killed all those people and i asked to build this building for a long time and the mayor knows that and all of a sudden the money was available and the mayor asked me to do a investigation and it was in the papers and

unbelievable. you know it's difficult to investigate the police department. it is. my father is a police officer. you have to walk carefully, and i came to the mayor and i said "mayor jordan -- i said it's a dog's breakfast. 911 is broken. they don't practice the incident command system. they do in each department but it's all stove pipe. the radios didn't work in the enclosed stair wells, and i said mr. mayor i'm -- a lot of this goes back to your time as the police chief and before, so if you want me to cease and desist. i understand political imperatives. if you want me to cease and desist i will. i

will not change the report but if you want someone else to do the report it's fine. very honorable mayor jordan said "no, tell it like it is" and i did and that report is available. it's available. it's a damming report but gave birth to this building and all the good things going on here. it allowed me to change the radios of the police department, the fire department, the paramedics and bring in 800 mega hurtz and not what oakland had but the simulcast radios and departments didn't want toking on the same but we put them on it and you're probably in the next genraition of those radios right now and by the way -- there was a man here who preceded the mayor. it was

then called the chief administrative officer and rudy rothenberg and incredible civil servant and i worked with him on this building. in fact i drew this building. i had architecture work as a midship man and if i find it i'm going to give it to you. we also as a result of that we subsumed the department of public health ambulance into the fire department and should have been done years ago and we centralized 911 upstairs. it was a great ride. in addition to the people i mentioned there were scores of others that helped me to succeed kronenberg was one of these people to help me when the political system

was going on and i am particularly indebted to the usual suspects, the san francisco suspects who come forward when you have problems and help you to fix them, and i will end with that because they make a difference, and i will end with that, and i brought something with me i want to show you. that's the emergency plan that i as the first all hazards emergency plan that we wrote for this city. it was praised up and down the coast. you have a better one now, and could you reach that little book on top? yeah. and in my navy training -- when you get in an airplane you don't get in and the key in. you put this on your lap and do all the

check offs. well, having been a chief executive i know their lips get tired when they read more than one page. sorry, but you know, but anyway i put this book together, and i mainly for the mayor and his primary assistants, so when bad stuff happened in the middle of the night you could pull this off of your bureau and go to the first three or four things that you have to do in order to save lives and property, and i understand this has a grandfather. okay, which is great. so thank you very, very much. it was a labor of love. i like doing things. i like doing things when people tell me i can't do them, and i like working with people who are

different and boy did i ever get a load of that here, and it was wonderful, so thank you mr. mayor. you're very kind. thank you all, and i wish you well, and again go giants. [applause] >> thank you so very much admiral for your inspirational remarks. i think the happiest more than in the city and county of san francisco is the day you said you would be director of oes was me and you failed to mention yes, i was director of the mayor's council but when you

came on i was director for horrible months and i didn't know anything then and i was happy when the admiral said yes he would be the director and you did wonderful things. i would like to invite me -- you saw the picture of the plaque of the dedication of the center and when you go out the door it's lovely so i hope that you take a second to look at it. also i want to ask everyone to share refreshments with us in our break out room and you have the opportunity to talk to the admiral personally. i will be very brief on my remarks. much of mine have been covered. we are planning -- doing a lot of planning for the world series. we want to make sure that we create a parade and event after we win the world series that it's safe and enjoyable for the public, and so we had a meeting

earlier this week and we will have a meeting once we clinch to plan the parade with all the public safety representatives. we really have great representation from everyone. right now today urban shield is starting. it's the largest exercise i think in the united states or one of them. over 3500 law enforcement officers from the bay area are involved. it's a 48 hour full scale exercise and there is more in the report if you want to read about it. there was a fire at the portal and we pulled together officials and talk about response efforts and what we needed to do and we were able to quickly hand over