At the event, a historic collection of San Francisco politicians including Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, current Mayor Daniel Lurie, Supervisors Connie Chan, Aaron Peskin and Shamann Walton were in attendance alongside Agnos' family. Neighbors and community members also gathered the corner of Connecticut and 20th Street to share stories and highlight his legacy.
"When the Loma Prieta earthquake struck San Francisco in '89, it was your leadership that helped steady our city," Lurie said. "Your legacy reminds us that public service does not end when you leave office, nor does it require one to be in office."
Agnos served as mayor from 1988 through 1992 and led the charge to remove the damaged Interstate Highway 80 freeway that originally connected the Bay Bridge to Chinatown and North Beach that was damaged in the earthquake.
This decision to remove the freeway opened the Embarcadero waterfront area, increasing public access through dedicated public transit routes, public piers, shops and restaurants and has been seen as a model for similar development around the country.
Agnos also was mayor during the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco and was one of the first leaders to address it directly. He created an HIV/AIDS taskforce within the city government and increased the city's AIDS budget to combat the virus. He also championed legal protections for those who tested positive for HIV/AIDS, authoring an assembly bill in 1985 that provided some of the first protections against employment discrimination.
Agnos also served in the California State Legislature from 1976 through 1988 and was appointed to serve as regional director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii during the Clinton Administration.
Lurie added that Agnos spent time with him when he lived in Potrero Hill and provided council around the responsibility one has as mayor and impact decisions can have for generations to come.
Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi spoke fondly of the former mayor at the event, sharing stories of her children babysitting Agnos's kids and her thoughts on how his leadership through Loma Prieta and the AIDS epidemic communities together to achieve positive outcomes for San Francisco.
"This is what's called the Art Agnos way," Pelosi said.
In a touching moment, Agnos' son Steve spoke fondly of his dad and how his father's experience as a social worker led him to want to reform laws that made life more difficult for the clients he served. He sees the desire to improve the lives of people as an animating factor in his longevity and sharpness at 87.
"My dad may not have been born here, but he is a San Franciscan to his very core." Steve said. "He still does what he can to fight for a city that remembers its working poor and middle class...the same fight that sustains my dad is also the same fight necessary to sustain San Francisco."
"I hope that in the days to come when I'm no longer here...someone will (look up and) say 'Who was that guy?'," Agnos said. "Some of you will respond that he was one of us, He was a neighbor who lived with us while he fulfilled the Ancient Greek promise of the Athenians when they became citizens of their city, they said: 'I promise to leave my city, better than I found it.', and this tells me, I did."