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

. >> my name is mark tieman and i'm senior councilor at pet camp, san francisco, california.

we dispose of a lot of carbon-based material here, dog poop, and the more we can turn that into something viable, the better off we are. in san francisco there's more dogs than children. finding a viable use for dog poop. >> proenvironmental policies, that's a way to win hearts and minds.

>> welcome to coulterwire. the san francisco arts commission and department of public works has joined forces by battling graffiti by launching a new program called street smarts. the program connects established artist with private property owners to create a vibrant murals which is a proven an effective strategy for combating graffiti on private property. artists, along with his crew, recently transformed a building turn to vandalism into a masterpiece. let us take a look.

>> part of me has so much compassion for other graffiti artists. i understand why they are doing what they do. for me, it was something that was so hard to get out of. the lifestyle in general. j and tagging is addicting. i used to be on these routes. i have compassion for these guys. a lot of these guys are super talented. i am just trying to find the median to still be involved but still do my thing as an artist and work with the city, like we are doing. we are doing this wall in a collaboration with the san francisco arts commission. basically what they are doing is trying to get rid of some of the

tags and by putting up murals. they are cooking up graffiti artists with business owners. today, we are trying to get a lot of this wall buffed out and covered it. then we will spray on some sketches of what we are going to do. the rain is coming tomorrow. it should be here for a few days. we want others to know that there are artists working on this wall. the owner of this building, she has had to pay a lot of money to keep on paying over these attacks. >> we have paid as much as $400. the fed typically have been talk about four times a year. typically, it happened right after we have been notified that we need to remove it.

the painter will go up there and paid over the graffiti and make a perfect canvas for the tigers to come back. this program appeals to me because we were looking for a way to stop the taggers and the ugly graffiti. this program has beautiful work done by great artists that we thought would look great on our building. cameron talked about a few difficulties that he thought would be great. he called me and we talked about a theme of what he could do to the side of the building. he took some pictures and e-mail them to me. >> we are going to do all kinds of animals and plants. also, we are all to doing graffiti letters. if you one other taggers to respect our, you have to respect graffiti art.

>> if you had a lot of characters in it, you will get more respect from business owners and stuff like that, but letters will give you the respect of the graffiti artists. i have actually had in my name in this patch of seaweed. >> what if we did it a giant blue whale? >> i was going to do a puffer fish. >> the program for the children is just so important. this is important, too, but you

have to get at the kids to find out why they are doing it and direct them in more positive ways. i think what you are doing is great. >> have a good day. see you later. >> dana has been great, she has been a sport about the project. it was cool for her to see it and actually like it. as an artist, it means a lot to us. we are going to make it look really clean today. then it should be done. we have had this mural of for about six years and it has not been tagged. it really works as a deterrent. a lot of us graffiti artists have been waiting for an opportunity like this, to express ourselves on walls. and there are so many walls

around the city that could be beautified. i am so thankful that this opportunity has come about. >> my word encourage anyone who is thinking about it to really jump on the bandwagon. it is looking beautiful. when i came here this morning, i was notified that taggers were there last night, but fortunately, they did not touch our building. >> to check out the mural in person, stop by 65 polk road. in addition to being a street smarts artist, he has been teaching students about the value for public space and creating public art for the communities through a program called where art lives. for a full list of other in your locations and to learn more about the efforts to combat vandalism, visit

i've been clean four years! fifty-six ys! i've been in long-term recovery for 23 years. i've been in recovery for six months and love it! i've been in recovery for over 15 years! every september, people gather all across the country to celebrate recovery from addiction. i am so grateful for 19 years of recovery. it's changed my life, changed my children's lives. for information or for events near you, visit recoverymonth.gov

get involved and join the voices for recovery.