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] [applause] and now, i want to say -- it [beeping] voice: ready. ready. ready. ready. ready. announcer: it can be a little awkward when your friend tells you he's been diagnosed with a mental illness, but what's even more awkward is, if you're not there for him,

he's less likely to recover. i'm here to help, man, whatever it takes. voice: ready.

♪ meet cathy, who's lived most verywhere, from zanzibar to barclay square. but patty's only seen the sight, a girl can see from brooklyn heights, what a crazy pair! ♪ cathy: oh my, patty. did you find all your files? patty: finally! who knew it would be this much work when richard and i decided to retire! cathy: well, what are you going to do first? patty: we're heading down to brooklyn heights and start in on that social security paperwork. cathy: why would you do that? patty: what do you mean? cathy: it's so much easier to log onto socialsecurity.gov and file online. patty: what if i need to know how much money i'll be getting? cathy: online. patty: what if our address changes?

cathy: online. patty: what if i want medicare too? cathy: online. patty: so, how did you get so darn smart anyway? cathy: online! ♪ when cousins are >> thank you. thank you. thank you for being here. >> santa clara graduate. truth be told. i couldn't get into cal and berkeley. it is not all about cal and berkeley. but of course drew is a better baseball player and moved on in his life and i'm stuck in public service which is hardly a place to feel stuck.

i'm very enlivened by it, but i'm trying to make public life more entrepreneurial. that's why i'm here. i am here because i admire the work you're doing and i'm frustrated by what we do in government, it it doesn't necessarily match the entrepreneurial and innovative spirit alive in this room and nom the city and state but across the country and the world. i want to say a few things. we're in san francisco, in one of the most diverse cities and the dirs states and the world's most diverse democracy. people are prospering and living together across the most imaginable difference. why do i say that? birthplace, united nations, why do i bring that up? i do at the end of the day make this strong point, that nothing matters more than our capacity to recruit and retain the best and the brightest minds from around the world. that what makes san francisco,

what makes this state, what makes this country special at our best is that quality of imagination. that innovative and entrepreneurial spirit, that ability to retain the best and brightest minds. that's why it is right that we're in a city that doesn't tolerate its diverseity. we celebrate it each and every day. that human capital, that differentiater. that is alive and well today because you wouldn't be here had it not been for that differentiater. you have a million other cities that you could be doing this first conference, but you chose san francisco, the birthplace of life science and biotechnology, the home of the california stem cell institute, one of the most dynamic cities still in this very difficult economic climate, the -- the home of twitter and companies like wikipedia, sales force.com. four square as he was mentioning.

all of these remarkable companies that are now starting to take shape here in san francisco. play fish, the gaming industry really taking off. zinga and the work that mark is doing and their growth and that potential, all taking shape in this small city that we call home. again, because this is where the talent about that ability to recruit and retain the best and the brightest minds. almost 0-plus percent. not almost, over 40% of the people in the city have bachelor's degrees or greater. not many cities have that concentration of talent. at the end of the gay, the primary function of a mayor is -- to create the conditions so we could create an environment where people like you can come to -- together and do extraordinary things. now, back to my point, i won't take too much of your time, government -- government needs that entrepreneurial spirit now

more than ever for -- for obvious reasons. two that are self-evident to all of you. one, we're broke. the soaked, you don't have that much confidence -- the second, you don't have much confidence to solve your problems. we're better off taking inspiration from you and the private sector and trying to inject it into government as we know it. my friend tim o'reilly came to me a couple of years ago and said, he started talking about the notion that -- of government as it -- as a vending machine. and that -- you basically pay yore taxes then offproscribed list of products and services, you basically pull the lever and that product or service is dispensed. that's it. that's rather one dimensional. the at some point to have you our consumers, the taxpayers,

the shareholders to design government in your interest, individually and collective is limitless. that's really what -- what i am looking -- looking forward to in terms of the work that you're doing. not just for your own interests but -- not just for your private interests but for the public good. that's why a year and a half ago, with tim and others, we came together and we put together an open data strategy for city government. we took a bunch of information and put it together and said, it is yours. this is your government, this is your information, now go at it. now figure out something to do with this information. something we could never have imagined and my gosh, got forbid would take us a year or two to go through a procurement process. you'll have to do an r.f.i. an r.f.q., r.f.p., lowest responsive bidder.

then go through a process and where it goes through hearings and the county board makes their way to the mayor's office and by the time you get it out there, we run out of money and nothing happens. you on the other hand have taken information and in realtime put applications now that exist days, in some cases hours after we put the data, you had days weeks and months and the cost to the taxpayers is zero. let me give you specific examples. we have an application showcase. if you go to s.f. data.org, you'll get the data we put up. we're barely getting started, we only have 150 data, we're getting started and tomorrow coincidentally, i'm going to acquire with the ordinance, diane executive order and codify with an ordinance to make san

francisco government responsible for putting up thousands of data from every city department. be it the department of environment, be it the department of public works, be it the police department and the fire department, et cetera to do the following. we put muni information up, company out of nowhere comes together and calls roots and takes information that exists so you could go on your p.d.a. and instead of worrying about whether we're on time with the public transit, you could find ow in realtime exactly when the bus will arrive. you got mothers that came together, because -- they actually -- are working more collaboratively to celebrate a lot of work that has been done to our play grounds in san francisco and they put together a mom map application, which uses the g.p. snfment your hand and can tell you where a play ground or park is within your area. you have got crime mapping that is being done now so if you you

want to make sure you come to san francisco and you're nervous and you read about the tragedy with the tourist and you're not confident, you're going to stay at a hotel, you're not sure if the tenderloin is the right place, you could go on this crime mapping,.com, application, and you could get all of the latest realtime crime mapping data. well ahead of anything that the city itself produces. we -- we're doing this for literally dozens and dozens of applications. how about this? how many of you, i imagine, everyone, some of you may never have had this indignity. not waking up in time when those street sweepers are outside. it is as government purposely does this to you. you're working hate and it is 5 a.m. they do the street sweeping. why not 7:00 our 8:00 or 9:00. it is always that hour or two before and you don't want to

wake up. now we have an application. we were going to spend 30,000 to put this together, it would have taken us months to go through that procurement process. and folks came can up like that for no cost. now we have an application that will tell you and warn you when those street sweepers are coming so you don't get outrageous tickets. these are the kind of things that are very practical that make a big difference in your lives. very soon incidentally, you're going to be able to go. this is the first city in america that has congestion parking meter prying, where you have an inventory of all of the on-street parking spaces and you're going to determine the availability of parking in realtime on your p.d.a., so you don't have to circle around the corner 20, 30 times. called s.f. park. again, three dimensional, this is the future of government. real transparency. real accountability. you designing government in your

image. i think this is an extraordinary thing. i think this conference is extraordinary. i think you'll laak back and remember this day, five 10 years from now when you can't get in the conference. when they can't just use north but south, but the other masconi we'll be building because hundreds of thousands of people are trying to descend in the region to take advantage of the extraordinary moment in time and that moment has you will create as you build again that quality of imagination and move your ideas forward. i just wanted to be here and -- as that local government representative saying please don't forget about us. transparency, accountability, efficiency, and real-time information, in the hands of the people that determine it the most, the taxpayers themselves. government not as a vending machine, but government as something all together

different. it is -- it is -- it is your mind, it is in your imagination now, and i'm just here to encourage you to unleash it. let you know that san francisco wants to continue to play a role, front and centre and this state, california, needs to do exactly the same. at a time of fiscal crisis and a crisis again of confidence, we can't afford to do anything less. drew, thank you for your wisdom. thank you for organizing this. your friends. thank you guys for ull a of the great work you're doing.

>> coming up on "california country," find out why being called an avocado head is actually a good thing for these folks. then, they're getting figgy with it in fresno. and have questions on what to grow in your garden? never fear, our expert has the answers. it's all ahead, and it starts now. [captioning made possible by california farm bureau federation] creamy, rich, and decadent, avocados have become a staple for many of us. according to the

california avocado commission, about 43% of all u.s. households buy avocados regularly now. so when you think of avocados, you probably think of this, right? guacamole. but today farmers and chefs are proving that avocados can be so much more. good. ok, sure, what's not to like about guacamole? i mean, we do eat a lot of it. in fact, more than 49 million pounds of avocados in the form of guacamole will be consumed on super bowl sunday alone. but at hawks restaurant in granite bay, they're exploring different ways to use the alligator pear, otherwise known as an avocado. >> we like using california avocados because they're grown as close as an avocado can be. these are from the simi valley. they're really versatile. they're rich. as you can se