-- aurora, all i have to say is, omg. calling to the podium at this time, joan. good to see you, joan. >> i am the executive director of the native american aids project. it was founded by a group of gay american indians back in 1984 as the american indian aids institute. we have become the most comprehensive hiv/aids organization for native americans. besides providing care and prevention services for our community, we also strive to create a home for the most

disenfranchised members of our community. those who are struggling with hiv, those who are struggling with alcohol and drug addiction. one of the things that we share with the honorees tonight is that we strive to create a sustainable and of the community. -- healthy community. i would like to present our fourth honorinee. marvin grew up in a rural community in arizona and has been living in san francisco for nine years. he is a member of the navajo nation and has dedicated his life to serving the usyouth of the community. by creating a true partnership with them and their families, he

honors the building programs with community that highlights the role of leaders today and the potential to give back as global citizens of this ever increasingly connected world. marvin has influenced the development of progressive and youth-driven projects for generations to come. i like to invite those who would say a few words about marvin. [applause] >> hey. it is our honor to present this award to someone who is truly special to us. working. y -- working with youth is not an easy task. not only must we be there to

support them in their studies, we are there to advocate for them and help them to become strong individuals. to allow kids to be kids and support their development in the coming world citizens is a balancing act. this man has taken on the challenge for many years. he has become part of the lives of these young individuals and does not only care and work for them, but for their families and for the community as well. we all truly care for him and are thankful for all that he does. it has been a pleasure to work for him. >> i just want to say that martin is such an exceptional person. even when he is -- more than -- marvin is such an exceptional person. even when he is just playing basketball, and getting into a tickle war, you can feel his

intentions and how much he really just cares. he is there unconditionally. a lot of young people -- they don't really see them as native people. marvin never gives up and always rises to the occasion. being a youth worker, you do so much more than what your job description says. he goes above and beyond what he needs to. it is really amazing to work with someone that genuinely and deeply understands. i am trying to build a new youth program in san francisco, and i want to say that we all have so much love and respect for him. he understands that they are not just tomorrow's leaders but today's leaders.

it is not just their own happiness, but it contributes to the native community. i am really glad to present this award for him. [applause] >> we also have a present for marvin on behalf of the kids. he is not only a super star, but a native super star. [cheers and applause]

>> 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

>> thank you for taking the time to be here. i am very enthusiastic about the work that folks uc to my left and your right, and behind me, in front of you, have done to get us this far and really lead the way in terms of making government more transparent and more accountable. and empowering people. at the end of the day, the spirit of the legislation that i am signing today is about empowerment, connectivity, turning back government to the people who have allowed us to serve them, by giving them the most important resource, information. i have said this in the past. it is remarkable. the transparency that we promote, particularly, here in san francisco, seems to be

limited to gotcha government. the transparency is the sunshine asking the mayor to turn over a document based on the meeting they had 15 months ago, based on the expectation that there would be that gotcha sentence so that we could expose corruption in the government. that is important, and we should promote that kind of transparency, but it is so limited and how is focused on what is wrong, not what is right. we are taking that notion of transparency and actually challenging people to do good things. and to promote their government by promoting the government they want, a government in their image, in our image. we, the people, not the image that their elected representatives believe we should have. we talked and we have had other opportunities, the chance to talk about two different government, the vending machine notion.

you have a limited amount of choices, you pay your taxes, and then you pull out your limited amount of services, they replenish the services, next here is a little bit less, but you could be paying more. then you have your 10 things which are limited. now this is really a celebration of creating a more complex relationship in terms of the kinds of programs and services that the people themselves in government can provide to make us more responsive and accountable. i am excited about this. i may be wrong, but i believe 10 years from now, we will look back at this as the genesis to something that i do not think any of us fully understand.

you have seen this with apple. what we know is the limit last this for people to have -- limitlessness for people to have an interracial idea. creating opera tours, small businesses. brian was the impetus for me to be motivated by this when he was at the press office, before he left us for more money. i will be honest. he will be last honest. he says, for new challenges. more money.

>> [inaudible] >> we have got these data sets which are machine readable. we load more information. mothers' groups say that they are going to go out and track down the closest recreation museum that is family friendly. you have some people who say that they have a better idea with muni, they want to make it better. taking next level information, a crime mapping. all kinds of things have happened without cost to the taxpayer. if we initiated some of these things, it would go through the procurement process that begins at 8 commission, it has to be

there for 30 days, then we come back, recess, all this other -- executive directors are sick, paternity leave -- then we get the appropriation -- then it is a new fiscal year and then we have less money. then there is a board of supervisors. then another when changes their mind. then the comptroller leave because they became the city administrator. and then nothing gets done. it could cost $1 million for just one thing. or you could give people information, and within weeks, days, as we have seen, magic occurs. that is why this is just an amber. we do not know what we are unleashing. -- an ember. we just need to convince

politicians and bureaucrats like me that it is okiokay to let pee know what you are doing. this is not a way to fire or embarrass you. it is a way to support you. all these datasets are coming out, apps, all this new competition. i just want to think jay and his team for a great job. thank you for supporting this and being on the cutting edge. brian, ed. and to phil teng who really supports this.

and to our new school board member who is going to bring this to the school board and force education reform by empowering parents, not just special interest, to release information in a way where they can start designing the future of education reform. i think that is perhaps the most exciting place to see this kind of application. let me say this in closing. mark my words, this is coming to the state of california. if it takes me four years just to get it killed in committee, we are just going to keep at it until the state of california leads the way in open data. we are going to bring some sort of legislation. get ready. thank you very much. with that, ed, come up and give

us a sense of the more practical applications of why you really love this. >> i actually love this from the start. i was a believer -- one thing that i have told my staff, colleagues, what we're talking about is not our data. it is not the department heads, not the city's data, it is the public's data. we have an obligation, i would say, to push it out to the public to make it available and useful to the public. when you do that, it can help the department and city, but most importantly, it can help the public. it can be very empowering. a lot of what we do, whether it is abating graffiti, picking up trash, filling pot holes,

improves someone's quality of life. when a neighborhood group is getting together to see how they can improve the conditions in their neighborhood, it is hard for them to do so if they do not know what the crime looks like in the neighborhood, where they have the legal dumping problems. community groups can then have real data to base their solutions on. it is very empowering in that respect. it can help us avoid a lot of cumbersome public record requests, rather than waiting for people to come to us to pull data out, we push it to them. they do not have to come and ask us for it, which for us to track it down. it is available for them to use. and finally, the mayor made reference to this, there are some leads that we have that if we were to try to address them would be costly and time- consuming and may not even yield the results we want. a