>> an echo. that's a nice echo. hello, my name is marvin paddock, and i would congratulate the recipients this evening. here at city hall, i was watching the world series on monday. voted right down here. now receiving this awesome acknowledgement. i first must thank the french house association for native americans -- the friendship house for native americans. [applause]

and for the laughter that you guys give me. i would like to thank the youth and their families. thank you a lot. as the youth workeres, this is the hot -- workers, this is the highest compliment to say that your a local hero -- you are a local hero. the center for youth services does matter. it is a healthy identity for urban youth. this award makes me want to work that much harder to maintain the integrity of the program in a time of financial uncertainty. think you very much. -- thank you very much. [applause]

[applause] >> all right. getting ready to wrap up. you guys haven't heard a joke in awhile, have you? any comanches out there? it's a comanche joke. this man, he had lost his sight so he was walking around with a white cane. he came up to this committee restaurant, and it serves only comanches. comanche owned and operated.

he has a seat and says, i would like some biscuits and gravy. the waiter took his order. he yells out, anybody want to hear a comanche joke? it got real quiet. the waiter comes back over and says, before you tell the joke, i want to make sure that you know we know you're blind. there are five things you need to know before you tell the jokes. the comanche says, the cook is comanche. he has a baseball bat. second, that bouncer by the door is comanche.

third, there is a six-foot five- inch, 275-pound comanche man over there with a black belt in karate. that man next to you is a professional wrestler, a comanche. the comanche on the other side of you, he's a professional weight lifter. after hearing these five things, my friend, but you still want to tell that comanche joke? the man pauses for a second, shakes his head, no. not if i will have to explain at

five times. [laughter] all right. getting ready to close this up, i want to send out a special shout out to kqed, public broadcasting. the native american health center. native american aids project. the mayor's office right here in san francisco, neighborhood services. i would like to mention that the native american aids project, very close. the two spirits.

my cousin, probably one of the first native americans to pass away with aids. from my family to you, thank you. thank you, thank you. [applause] an appropriate flag song, and a quitting song. please stand if you're able. these songs, long before the star spangled banner. this nation's national anthem.

our native people. they sang these songs. it pays homage to the first of this land. our eagle staff. these flags, the national standard. our american flags. our eagle staff fought on the same battle fields. today, they stand side by side with each other. remember our veterans with these songs as well.

[singing and chanting]

given up one more time for the singers, dancers, veterans. leaders in our native american community as well. calling up joaquin to present the native american health center with a mayoral proclamation.

>> we share a responsibility for vibrant communities, and we have an opportunity to share recognition. last year, the native american aids project honored november as native american heritage month, and we will receive the proclamation from mayor newsom. we are proud to be partners with kqed. let's thank them. thank you so much for your hard work. thank you to the native american aids project for bringing the spirit into the room. thank you for all of our dancers, singers, but veterans, we salute you. on behalf of mayor newsom, the city and county of san francisco, we proclaim november

2010 as american indian heritage month in san vances go. -- san francisco. thank you very much. [applause] >> we are asking the four honorees to come on up. photo-op. it's not really over yet. until i say so. we give thanks this day, the opportunity to gather and honor our own today. blessings upon all those as they travel home

>> in the store manager, and i would like to introduce the mayor of san francisco and the newly elected lieutenant governor of california, gavin newsom. [applause] mayor newsom: is that me? supervisor, i'm not ready for this. welcome, everybody, and thank you all very much for coming out today on this special ribbon cutting. supervisor maxwell and i were colleagues on the board of supervisors when this project was first brought up. i remember the controversy like it was yesterday. originally, as you know, this

was supposed to be home depot. exactly. i knew it would be like saying the dodgers of san francisco or something. people immediately started to align themselves up in tents, those that just could not imagine a home depot, could not imagine a big box retailer in the city and county of san francisco. i remember all the community meetings of on the hill. all over. we were all over the city having community meetings about the basic future of san francisco and what kind of city we wanted. were we a city of neighborhoods, or were we just going to find a suburbanized san francisco as our future? that was the debate, and home depot had to come to the table, spend a great deal of time with supervisor maxwell. the other supervisors wanted

nothing to do with it at the time. but supervisor maxwell was open and wanted to make sure if there was ever going to be a retailer like that or a big box like this, that there had to be some strong commitments to the community, and they needed to take shape in a private meeting. they needed to be on paper. they needed to be in writing, and we needed to make sure the attorneys were there so that all those commitments were enforceable. then, home depot, out of nowhere, decided to take off, just like sirens on that engine, and all that work, the macroeconomics of the world started to change, and they decided they had gone through the entire process, those arrows, those slings, and they went through all of that, and we had this incredible untitled project. every single thing approved. all those commitments.

and the supervisor -- i remember the day after that announcement. we were on the phone talking with michael cohen, saying what do we do? and we got this call from lowe's saying they might be interested. i remember that conversation. we said, "can you believe this?" we were pinching ourselves saying, "this is too good to be true if." there were a lot of disappointments because of the commitments that were made and the negotiated agreements, and we had gone through all the politics of this, and we finally -- the community was very supportive out here. not unanimously, but overwhelmingly supportive. we thought it was time to follow through on our commitment to the people of bayview hunters point, particularly 94124 area code. days became weeks and weeks became months, and folks in the

mayor's office, my office, and supervisor maxwell's office, and lowe's said they were willing to accept all the commitments that previous books made. we thought they would say they would commit to everything, but then we thought they would start to unravel, and they would pull back. but the reality is they said they would commit and they committed. and here we are, and they did exactly that. the local hires i think are without precedent of any big project in this city. this is real on the destruction inside and the permanent jobs that are being created. that is a pretty extraordinary thing. 211 or so jobs. 88% are just from in and around the area.

it is an extraordinary story. i'm really proud of lowe's. we are not jumping up and down four big boxes. we will be candid. we love the sales tax. this is a big deal. but we are sensitive to what big stores do. because you guys are so good that some of the little guys can be threatened by it, but this location was the right location. this boulevard needed the economic stimulus, the anchor. look at all the fresh paint across the street. it did not always look like that. you are going to see in the next few years this boulevard take shape. if lowe's continues to be the employer they have proven to date, a lot of families will benefit because of the jobs created because of this, so thank you for following through

on all your promises. so far, you are one of the good ones, and we want to keep saying that for years to come. i thank supervise the maxwell for getting in the mix and holding strong because it was not easy. i was watching those votes, and, man. [applause] all the commitments on the work force training money, the day laborer program, all those new trees we were going to get -- thank you for holding steadfast. michael cohen and all the folks in my office that helped make this possible. we are on our way out. we have had the best dam year. this is like 1998 and again or something. there's so much to be proud of or thankful for.

with that, your supervisor, supervisor sophie maxwell. [applause] >> thank you. i remember like yesterday those five to six votes, but what made a difference was the community. what made a difference was young community developers and hard hats and yellow vests lining up the walls. 60, 70 of them, and each of them speaking about the opportunities that they wanted to become working people. they wanted jobs and they wanted a leg up, and that is what this was about, so that is what i remember. i remember 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, but it was all worth it. i can hardly find a parking place this year. i'm really excited, and this boulevard -- you are right. we are working on becoming a

home improvement district with lowe's being the anchor, so i think you are going to find a lot of fascinating things happening in this area, this district, so i want to thank the mayor and all of my colleagues. the so-called progressive -- they do not relate like economic development that much. they like programs. so aaron said that it was going to be rough, and i told him to represent the people standing here, and he did. i want to thank all the people who are going to come here and the 50% from 94124 and 93134. thank you for that. >> and thank you to look of 22, local 261, to rsr construction.

thank you very much. now, we are going to hand it back to lowe's and have the ribbon cutting. thank you. >> with all of that, we just want to thank everyone. first from the city of san francisco for welcoming us. we opened the doors, and it has been wonderful hearing all the comments from the customers about how excited they were to come into lowe's and how they look forward to come into lows. i want to thank the community and neighborhood for welcoming guests -- welcoming us. i want to thank the honorable mayor of san francisco and sophie maxwell for welcoming us.

i would like to thank rhonda simmons and her wonderful and entire staff for her guidance and support, and i would like to thank everyone for the partnership. i would like to thank derek smith for his guidance with this whole project. without your advice, i think we would be wandering through, wondering where to go. i would also like to thank my district manager for his support and guidance, but most of all, i would like to thank short construction and the storm voice and their families for the hard work and dedication and the hours away from home that they spent building this store. it was a wonderful experience to

bond with our group that were from this community. [applause] i would like to cite -- to thank malcolm x academy for allowing us to do a super heroes project at their school where we repainted and unified their school and planted for them and help them with their nutrition project, but i would like to present the thurgood marshall high school a check for $1,000. from cost to you, -- from us to you, thank you so much. [applause]

we would also like to present to san francisco city coalition at $5,000 tool donation. [applause] now, lowe's would like to have the mayor and district supervisor do our board cutting ceremony.

[applause] mayor newsom: congrats, everybody. worked out. worked out for the neighborhood as well.