Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced the dates for community engagement events to get the public more involved in the City’s budget process and hear from residents about their budget priorities to build a balanced two-year budget for San Francisco. Mayor Lee will co-host District-based Budget Town Halls with members of the Board of Supervisors and provide other forums to hear from San Franciscans about their budget priorities and ideas.

“We are excited to hear directly from our residents about their top priorities on issues that matter the most to them,” said Mayor Lee. “We must craft a balanced budget that keeps our City on a steady course of continued fiscal stability, stimulate the local economy, create good jobs, invest in key capital and infrastructure improvements, as well as address long term challenges identified in the proposed Five Year Financial Plan and ensure that San Franciscans can access City services they need.” Read more.

Mayor Edwin M. Lee as part of the Nation’s first Walk to Work Day launched San Francisco’s Pedestrian Strategy to increase walkability around the City and make all neighborhoods safe for pedestrians as outlined in the Mayor’s Pedestrian Safety Executive Directive. The Pedestrian Strategy focuses on actionable recommendations to reduce serious or fatal pedestrian injuries by 25 percent by 2016 and by 50 percent by 2021.

“The Pedestrian Strategy outlines specific actions to cement our commitment to safer, more walkable streets for everyone who walks around our beautiful City,” said Mayor Lee. “If we can prevent an accident from happening, we must. Everyone is a pedestrian at some point, and their safety is our highest priority.” Read more.

Mayor Edwin M. Lee today cut the ribbon on the new Fire Station One, located at 935 Folsom Street in the South of Market neighborhood, which is the first new San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) fire station in more than forty years. The new Fire Station One is a result of a public-private partnership between the City and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) from 2010 and is part of the City’s plan to rebuild San Francisco’s aging public infrastructure and to protect the safety of its residents.

“Investing in our City’s public safety infrastructure is critical to providing unparalleled services to residents in need 24 hours a day and being prepared for any emergency or disaster response,” said Mayor Lee. “Our City’s partnership with SFMOMA made it possible to make this vital capital improvement to San Francisco’s infrastructure. This new Fire Station One services a growing and transforming neighborhood in our City and meets the needs of our residents.” Read more.

Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced that the City’s successful solar initiative, GoSolarSF, will receive an additional $2 million in funding for the fiscal year 2013-2014. The additional allocation will increase the total funds available for GoSolarSF financial incentives starting July 1, 2013 to $4 million. GoSolarSF funds will be available for all incentive categories, which include residential, low-income residential, business and non-profit.

“GoSolarSF has shown a proven track-record of success and has created more than 100 jobs for San Franciscans while jump-starting our own local solar industry,” said Mayor Lee. “Today, our City is a leader in clean energy because we’re reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in part, by generating more and more of our energy locally from rooftop-installed solar arrays.”

GoSolarSF is a program run by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) that provides incentives for San Francisco residents, businesses and non-profits to install solar panels on their property. Read more.

Today Mayor Edwin M. Lee, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, Supervisors David Campos and Mark Farrell and California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) CEO Warren Browner joined together to announce their support for a new plan to rebuild California Pacific Medical Center’s healthcare facilities to ensure quality healthcare and earthquake safe hospitals for future generations of San Franciscans.

The new proposal calls for the building of two state-of-the-art, seismically safehospitals, one in the center of San Francisco’s Cathedral Hill at the corner of Van Ness and Geary streets and another in the Mission District, next to the existing St. Luke’s hospital. This far-reaching agreement was reached with the help of Lou Giraudo, owner of San Francisco’s Boudin Bakery, who, over the past few months, led a series of very frank and productive discussions between the Mayor’s Office, Supervisors Chiu, Campos and Farrell and CPMC executives. Read more.