rehabilitated and will leave sunday. others will need 24-hour care for the rest of their lives, and so they will look forward to spending time in the spending -- in this building for years to come. it is exciting to have a new building. it is even more exciting to receive a new model of care, care that is resident centered, care that honors each person as an individual instead of a body in a bed. care that involves talking to us, and more important, listening to us, hearing our voices. so many have worked so hard, has you have been told -- as you have been told, to bring the state to pass. and now we have a dazzling new setting to present to you. when you leave today, you will be going home.

but laguna honda residents will not be leaving. this is our home. and it is very important to us. we are already here. but please come back and visit us frequently. this wonderful new laguna honda would not exist without you. i just want to add a personal note. my younger sister, emily, was a resident here for many more years than i have been. she was greatly loved. we lost her recently. i would like to dedicate this speech to her and remembered her, as many of the residents do, with great fondness and affection. thank you all. [applause]

>> i would like to invite you all nowi that good enough? this is a participatory ribbon cutting. it requires nothing more complicated than this. i will ask you to count down, not up. upon conclusion, we will applaud the great works of turner construction, the dedicated men and women who are still toiling inside to get this project completed, which begs the question when will the residents be moving in that? there is an easy answer -- soon. [laughter] [crowd chants a countdown]

[applause] go ahead in an orderly manner.

>> weren't they great? i think they deserve another round of your thanks. they are thurgood marshall high school like school crew. -- light show crew. they were formed to demonstrate asian culture through the art of glow sticks. glow sticks are synonymous with the buyer dancing from hawaii. they did a great job with those close sticks. -- with those glow stick. i am going to serve as your mc. the first rule of thumb i get to ask of all of you is please turn off your cell phones. we would really appreciate it if you could check right now to see

that yourself bones are on silent mode are completely off. -- that your cell phones are completely off or on silent mode. we have some great performances coming up. they deserve your attention. we ask you the favor to check your phones right now. i am delighted to have been asked to serve as your mc today. i am from hawaii, third generation. i am all about asia/pacific. it is so important to me. i know it is to all of you. to start us off right away, i want to say please welcome a wonderful performer. she will give up her heart and soul. she is going to sing our

national anthem. would you please give a warm welcome. [applause] >> ♪ oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last g leaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous nighfight o'er the ramparts we watched

waere so gallantly streaming and the rockets' red glare the bombs bursing in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free

and the home of the brave ♪ [applause] >> that was beautiful. beautiful. wasn't that beautiful? by the way, she gives her talents and many community organizations around the bay area. she is with the sand francisco friends of samoa. that is her heritage. her family came from samoa. she gives her time and voice to a lot of community groups across the bay area. thank you for that beautiful and thumb.

thank you. here we are at the sixth annual asia-pacific heritage -- american heritage month and celebration. this year, we have a special title. i think you see it in your program books. we celebrate the heritage fostering unity. that is especially meaningful today to celebrate. specifically, it is important to know, here in san francisco, the city and county, one-third of the population is asian american and pacific islander. that is why if you look at all of us who were able to be here tonight to celebrate this particular month in this particular fashion -- clearly, one-third of us living in the

city of san francisco are asian- americans and pacific islanders. that is why it is so important to know that our voices count, and our boys in a celebration like this counts as we lead the nation in a great celebration. right now, i would like to call upon the san francisco assessor, bill ping, who is here to present the city's proclamation from our mayor of sentences go. i would like you all to say come on up bill. thank you for being here with us. give him a warm welcome. he is our san francisco assessor, bill ping. [applause] >> thank you, jan. can i ask some other commissioners to join me on

stage? i know that commissioners mar and chu are here. if there are other elected officials, if you could join me. our community in san francisco is something we are extremely proud of. frankly, if it was not for all of you i do not think any of us would be standing up here. we are very honored to be representing the community and the richness of our heritage in san francisco. it is not just one community but many communities that come from north asia, south asia, southeast asia, the pacific islands. all of us are here to pay homage to the leaders getting awards but also to thank the heritage committee for all the work they have done. can we call up claudia chang

to presenter this proclamation? it was not for her and the committee, this would never have happened. please give her a round of applause. [applause] all the committee members are on page three or four of the handbook. problems, a political system in which to many people have lost faith, and the new government will face the worst inheritance of any incoming government for least 60 years. that is exactly why it is so important that we have strong, stable government that lasts. a strong, stable government, which has the support of the public to take the difficult decisions that are needed if we are going to put this country back on the right track for a stronger future. there is one further point i want to make. i believe that it is not just important for this country to have strong and stable government. it is important that we get that strong and stable government quickly.

i hope we can reach agreement quickly on the open and comprehensive offer i have outlined today, and as i argued in this general election campaign, i think this is a great country, but we could be doing so much better. we do not have to settle for the dead and waste and taxes left to us by labour. we can put behind us the economic incompetence, the breakdown, the political division, and the mistrust. of course, i hope that a conservative majority would be the outcome of this election and that we could have started today making the changes that i believe our country so badly needs. i know how much the conservative party itself -- all my colleagues in parliament, all the members and activists from the country -- wanted that as well, but i also know they wanted something more than that. they want the best for britain. the conservative party has always been a party that puts the national interest first, and

the best thing, the national interest, the best thing for britain now is a new government that works together in the national interest, and i hope with all my heart that is something we can achieve. that is all i have to say for now. i hope you understand, but i will not be taking questions because this urgent work must begin. thank you. >> we leave the british leader's speeches. you can find them in their entirety at c-span.org. next, president obama on the latest unemployment numbers released today. the labor department report shows unemployment rising to 9.9% in

>> in my day, i said he was and still is the best dressed da mayor in the nation. am i correct, everybody? willie brown. [applause] you will need him again, but please help me welcome send francisco assessor phil king, supervisor david chiu, carmen chu. [applause] supervisor eric mar, right here.

[applause] public defender jeff adachi. it was just here. and from the city administrator's office, edwin lee. right here. [applause] and i would also like to welcome some generals who may be in our audience. i did not get a chance to see if you were here, but i know that the council general from japan was supposed to be here. if he is not here, though he is coming. the consul general from the philippines was going to be here. also, consul general also from the philippines, wilfredo santos was going to be here. give them applause. [applause] and we all know that an event

like this, with your help, also, we need the help of our generous sponsors, and please, indulge me if you will, for us all to recognize some great sponsors. then, i am going to say who they are, and we are going to give them while the applause at the end of all the sponsors as i read them. so starting at the top level, i want to say our heritage sponsor, we want to say a special mahalo and thank you to pacific gas and electric company on the heritage level. i'm going to read them all. heritage level sponsors. we want to say special mahalo and thank you. bank of america. kraft foods. wells fargo bank. from the heritage friends level, at&t, comcast, and ecology, u.s. bank, and from the

heritage he tends level, day crossing and bills and, for all those heritage level sponsors, come on -- one big giant thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you. [applause] and now, i want to say -- it is my business, so you have to really help me thank them. our media sponsors. and our media sponsors, i want to say special thanks to abc7, comcast, once again, inquire.net, sfgovtv, the sense francisco examiner, world channel, and am 1400. please help me bank of the media sponsors. [applause] now, please help me welcome the

woman who is an incredible force, the woman who had the vision to bring this together, to bring us all together -- she is the founder and chair of the apa heritage celebration committee. come on out, claudine. [applause] >> welcome to the 2010 celebration of asian pacific american heritage month. on behalf of the celebration committee, all the names are here. which includes representatives from city officials and executives from over 10 @ nicholas in the asian-pacific american family. i welcome you here. -- over 10 representatives. with the demographics we have in

san francisco, everyone should be and can be celebrated as asian-pacific american heritage month. i cannot agree more. but looking around the room tonight, it is really a true do like that so many friends from the communities, from all communities, from all walks of life have decided to join us for our celebration. and it really means a lot to us. the truth of the matter is in a diverse city like san francisco where we call home, not only every month can be asian pacific american heritage month, every month can be african american heritage month. every month can be seen the demise of. every month could be irish american, every month could be women's history month. don't you agree with me? [applause]

this is a place where we all call home. we recognize there are a lot of issues in our communities these days, but this is a place we all call home, so the message that the apa heritage celebration committee would like you to take with you after this celebration is that we believe heritage and culture is something that we are proud of and something that we can all share. there is common ground in many traditions and common values among communities of all colors that we can all appreciate. we, the committee, are committed to take every opportunity to invite all communities to come together in occasions like this, to connect, to open doors ..., to get to know each other more. we need to do that in this city, and i know that today is not the first day, but every day can be the first day of forever.

i want to thank you for coming as we celebrate three individuals and organizations in our community, and thank you for being here. [applause] as we continue with this celebration, alan mistress of ceremonies has introduced some of our major smartest response tonight. i would like at this time to invite them up to present them a special gift of appreciation because we really appreciate your support -- our mistress of ceremonies has introduced some of our major sponsors tonight. to begin with, our heritage jim van supporter, pacific gas and electric. we have our friend, mr. jimmy harris, please join me. [applause] and every year, our presentation guests are handmade by a japanese american artist. this is actually a very special

piece of artwork of japanese origami. [applause] next, at the heritage partner level, i would like to first call off our bank of america fund, a senior vice president. [applause] then, one of our best food

companies in the country and in the web, kraft foods has joined us this year, and i would like to invite the area vice president to join us as well. [applause] [applause] our last one as for our friend, wells fargo, who is always with us since 2005. is the sentence is the metro district manager here? i think he is still on his break. thank you for joining us in this celebration. this is the