Mayor Edwin M. Lee today issued the following statement on the Board of Supervisors’ final unanimous approval to place the $400 million Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response Bond on the June ballot, which if approved by San Francisco voters, will continue to upgrade and replace older fire and police facilities, including the City’s emergency response firefighting water system:

“This next phase of the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response program will ensure that our City can quickly and effectively respond to a major earthquake or disaster.

We must ensure that our aging emergency firefighting water system and our neighborhood fire and police stations can withstand the next major earthquake so that our police officers, firefighters and paramedics can help those in need of emergency assistance immediately following a disaster.

I thank Board President David Chiu and the entire Board of Supervisors for their commitment to these seismic upgrades and to strengthening our City’s critical emergency response infrastructure. This second ESER bond program will not only save lives and save money in the long run, but it will also improve our City’s resiliency efforts and create jobs; all without raising property tax rates.”