The 45^th Cherry Blossom Festival is taking place this weekend in San Francisco’s Japantown. What great way to spend the weekend and enjoy one of San Francisco’s most beautiful neighborhoods. This year’s festival will celebrate the 100th year anniversary of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. and will also pay tribute to the 100th Infantry Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service comprised of all Japanese American soldiers receiving the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.

As we commemorate the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, which took place at 5:12 a.m.

During last week’s San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting at City Hall, 9-1-1 Dispatcher Stephen Golden received a commendation for being DEM’s Dispatcher of the Year. Stephen was selected for this honor based on his outstanding work during a 9-1-1 call from a visitor to San Francisco, who needed to send medical aid to her family residence in Columbia, Maryland. The caller explained she was visiting San Francisco to speak at a symposium and that when she called home, her three year old son answered the phone and told her his father was lying on the floor in the closet.

A few weeks ago DEM posted about our experience visiting the Safe Enough to Stay exhibit at the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). The exhibit is free and available to anyone interested in learning how to make their home safe enough to stay after an earthquake. The last day the exhibit is open is April 18th, which also marks the 106th anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire.