hey, yo, check out this chef, right? right? that's so gay. that's really gay. dude, look at those pants. please don't say that. what? don't say that something is gay when you mean that something is dumb or stupid. it's insulting. it's like if i thought this pepper shaker was stupid,

and i said, "man, this pepper shaker is so 16-year-old boy with a cheesy mustache." just saying. so are you going out tonight? i can't. my parents say i have to be home right after work. ugh. that's so gay. totally gay. ugh. that is so emma and julia. why are you saying, "that's so emma and julia"? well, you know, when something is dumb or stupid, you say, "that's so emma and julia." who says that? everyone. announcer: imagine if who you are were used as an insult.

mayor newsom: thank you all very much for taking the time to be here. i'm grateful and surprised by the number of people that actually showed up. i'm grateful for the number of people that took the time to be here to watch a number of your friends and family members and get to some various boards and bodies. this officially will constitute i believe my last public swearing in as mayor. there may be one or two people that i will be swearing in quietly in the mayor's office, but we are running out of commissions and running out of commissioners and boards, so i'm

grateful that you took the time to be here for this. i thank supervisor dufty, supervisor elsbernd for also taking the time to be here. how about a giant round of applause? [applause] i want to thank a number of department heads. the press secretary and other commissioners, i want to thank matthew for all his hard work getting the commissioners to give up their resumes and in some circumstances, give up their tax returns so we can find out more about you -- not

literally. i am grateful to be swearing in a dozen or so of you. the arts commission, the asian art museum commission. i will have some editorial comments in a moment. the finance corp., the golden gate bridge district, golden gate park concourse authority, graffiti advisory board -- and there is a story attached to that -- housing authority commission. small business commission, and the south east community facility's commission. briefly, i see p.j. johnson is the president of the arts commission who is here, and i'm pleased that kimberly striker is more publicly going to be sworn in, and my old friend who is going to move over from the department on the status of women and has long had an artistic bent and passion and history and background, and it seemed appropriate that we took this opportunity to appoint

dorca to the arts commission. i happen to think that our public arts scene in this community has improved dramatically. i was pleased to see something highlighting one of those pieces, but i'm very proud of the work that has been done over there, and i certainly hope and expect that we will be doing all those wonderful things for this neighborhood, but never forget the quality and imagination we strike when we probably right and opportunity to access in any meaningful way that challenges, ignites, and excites them, and that is why having these big, bold pieces of public art i think is so important to our city and provides a framework at least symbolically, not just substantively, people can appreciate the great history of the arts in our city. the asian art museum, at work

and victoria both be reappointed -- i joked about that. we have work to do over there. great things are happening. when we say world class, it tends to be a widely overstated phrase, but you talk about collection. there is simply not a collection in the western world as broad and deep as the asian art museum collection. it is truly an extraordinary collection. the challenge is it is in a beautiful building, and as great as that building is and as beautiful as the civic center is, it sometimes gets lost to those other cultural icons throughout the city that are in areas that are more accessible to people, at least they believe them to be more accessible. the challenge for the asian art museum is to build its foundation and to provide some new -- i see jay who is here,

the director -- the opportunity to take more risks in terms of how we rediscover the museum and get people to appreciate the extraordinary work that has been known over there in its leadership, so i'm excited about what you have been done. that is why you are being appointed back. we hope to have some announcements very soon about the asian art museum and its stated future. a lot of work to be done behind the scenes, as you know. finance corp. -- this is interesting. i'm pleased they are both going to take the mantle to serve on this corporation. this is a big deal. thank you for being here. [applause] the finance corp. was conceived as sort of a watchdog group of folks that could make sure -- that is why not yet as to say you wonder why these people are year. there's a connection. to make sure that we are being

good fiduciaries to the work that is being done in this city that is being sponsored by the people and their support of our municipal bonds. there have been questions in the past -- distant past -- that we have not always been doing what we could be doing, and that is why this was conceived. so it does not get as much attention as it deserves, but it is incredibly important. that is why i called ken and arnold up and asked if they would be willing to serve on this body, because it is an important body. so i'm very grateful. i have known arnold for many years, and i have admired and appreciated his commitment to this city. he knows more about their brown and jordan and feinstein am i ever will, as he has been a

friend and served in different capacities formally and informally for previous mayors. i'm very grateful for the role you will be serving. can cleveland -- you are always saying we need to be they of fiduciaries, so why not put the watchdog group, and i know all the members of the group, and i appreciate your willingness to serve. john, how many years have you been on this board? a long time. he was laid off a few times, but he keeps coming back. i guess that is the real story. but i told john his only job -- i'm going to leverage you publicly -- i said i'm going to

be a poignant, i want one thing -- i want to walk up the table of the golden gate bridge -- if i'm going to be a point you. i conditioned his entire reappointment on that, i expect publicly there is going to be some announcements. spend the day with us, so i said i'm happy to do that, so i'm happy to walk up with those men and women. i still want to do that. there is two more directors. i know. i'm very pleased as well. stephen, an old friend of mine -- not a very old friend. we got to know each other just a few years ago, but he works with

the giants and has been very involved in community work and doing other things before that, and is just a passionate enthusiast of our recreation and parks system, and it was one of those things are you said, "my gosh, what about steven to serve on the golden gate park's authority?" and he kiley said yes, and i'm very pleased you are willing to do this, so thank you. you are going to be outstanding. there was a column in the "chronicle" which i thought was interesting, about someone, and i will not get into the particulars. you can read the column if you are interested -- who went out there -- i do not want to belittle what the column said. what do you call those fancy shoes? manolo or something. i purposely did not remember that, so i do not have to at home.

some fancy shoes and fancy outfits, and she was out there cleaning up graffiti, and she sort of made an art of it because she does some serious work in the real estate world, some fancy work, and she drives a fancy car and gets out there with big cans of paint. they are in the back of a car, and she just stops everywhere, middle of the street, double parks, whatever, and jobs out there and will clean out your graffiti. i thought maybe there was something right about her. maybe there was something wrong. so i had to check. i realized it was hollow. i had known her over the years and did not connect the dots. -- i realized it was paula. kurd of like you are going to sit there telling us we can do a better job -- how about this? we have this position somehow that was vacant on the graffiti advisory board, so we said how about that? she said yes and went on to tell

me more about the -- anyway, she was already on the job. i thank you for your hard work on this appointment. kind of, i don't know, interesting circuitous way onto this board. but good luck. but now, you are part of the problem. not just books at city hall. housing authority commission, dorothy smith. this was interesting -- we had a public process for this commission. there is always a public process, so we decided to dig deeper into public housing, and we had a very specific slot for a certain type of commissioner, and we interviewed a bunch of folks, and we found the perfect person to serve on our housing authority. you all know how exciting housing authority is, right? they are going through a complete reinvention, out there,

starting at hunters point and moving out to sunnyvale, and eventually alice griffith. completely real imagining public housing. -- completely real magic in public housing. we keep putting band-aids, and is just failing more efficiently. we put up $95 million of city money. people do not fully appreciate -- $95 million in bonds the city put up to build this public- private partnership. we're finding that will dollars, state dollars that we otherwise would not have discovered had we not have the courage to put that deals together. so it is an exciting time in public housing. and no, public housing is not what it should be, and, yes, a lot of us should be ashamed that we allowed it to go this long and thus far, but that is a national issue as much as it is a state and local issue, but the

state is stepping in where the federal government walk away, and dorothy is going to be a big part of that. i'm grateful you said yes and your name into this mix. so thank you. small business -- steve adams. a small-business advocate. he has friends here. he is just a great guy. i think all the supervisors know steve well, really committed to the mission district and stepped up in some creative ways to create a little miniature community benefits district there and has always been out front supporting our small business week and our small business commission, our small business this, our small business that period has been an informal adviser on this position. a number of months came up, and we called in -- call him, and he said yes on the spot. it has just taken months to get here, and swearing in, but i'm grateful for your service. finally, the southeast community facilities commission.

we have known bridgette for years. this is it, because i know you guys are hungry. almost lunch. it is a wonderful facility, but it is underutilized and needs to be completely be imagined. and we need to really gauge the community -- we need to reengage the community to reimagine this facility. as the she could do that in an appropriate manner. so that is the lineup. now, for the swearing in. this is rather easy. all you have to do is raise your right hand. you appropriately if you would like, to stand just because it seems more formal. what i will do is i will say "i"

and then you will state your name, and then entering such time as you hold the position of, and you will say, "small business commission, blah blah blah." got it? this is not as hard as it appears. please raise your right hand. please state your name. >> [inaudible] >> do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies foreign and domestic and that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the

same, that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i'm about to enter, and during such time as i hold the position as a member -- >> [inaudible] for the city and it -- >> for the city and county of san francisco. it is official. congratulations. [applause]

>> san francisco's buses and trains serve many riders who are blind or how low vision. muni is their lives line to get around. simple act of courtesy can help them access muni services safely. it is not just courtesy.

it is the law. >> i used to take the 21 airlock. >> lot of times, when i would be waiting at the bus stop, the door would open and the driver would announce the bus line. >> 71. >> it is easier and preferable when a driver sees someone who is obviously visually impaired if they stop in front of me and say "this is the 71," "this is the seven." >> our buses are setup to announce the lines when we pull up. when i see a customer with a guide dog or cane, make sure i let them know what line i am. >> every time i get on the bus, i tell the driver where i need to get off, even if i think there digital voice system is going to announce that. just so they know in the event that it is not working. i would say a good amount of the

time, i do get acknowledgment, actually. >> good morning. >> morning. is your announcements system working? >> i'm sorry, it is not. >> could you let me know when we get to van ness and sacramento? >> i sure will. >> i have had a number of drivers be really helpful in terms of getting passengers to move down a few seats so i can sit in the front. >> can somebody give this lady a seat? >> the bus driver was say, "please wait a moment. i want to make sure you have a seat." and i hear him or her announced that he needs a seat for a person with a disability. >> as soon as the person gets on the bus, i ask the passengers if we can have a seat for this person. >> anybody help us? thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> sides, federal law requires that the customers give their seats to the elderly and disabled if they should need it.

>> buses should stop in zones that can accommodate multiple lines will stop behind one another. i cannot see what bus is behind -- i'm not even sure if there is a bus behind. the second bus does not come up to the front. oftentimes, it has caused me to be passed up by bosses, by trains, and again, it makes me late for appointments. it makes me late for my job. >> i'm often anxious that i'm going to miss the bus that i need, simply because i'm not fast enough to scamper down and find out which bus is lined up behind the bus that is currently in front of me. what i'm going to work and i take the van ness street buses to work, sometimes, one of them will pull up right next to the other one. not in a bus stop, but parallel

to it. and i do not know it is there. i also do not feel comfortable walking out into the street. >> is that my boss over there? i think that is my boss -- bus. i'm going to miss it. i don't know how many times i have missed buses because of this. >> i do not double park. it is not safe for our customers, and especially the visually impaired. anything could happen, and it is muni's policy not to double park. normally what i do, if i can safely go in behind, i pull in the zone, offload my customers, load the customers that are waiting for me. when the bus in front of the leaves, i will pull to the front for the customers that did not see me. >> sometimes, the bus pulls up, and there is stuff in my way because the boys -- bus has not

pulled up right in front of me. i have to figure out how to get around or through. i have to navigate through all of that in order to get onto the bus. >> when i pick up a visually impaired customers, i like to pull up right in front of them, make sure nothing is in the way so they can walk right on the coach. >> okay, take one big step forward. >> when i drop off a visually impaired customers, make sure you do not pull up at the shelter. you want to give them a straight shot so they can go to the left or the right. you want to pull in front or behind the shelter. never around any trees or pose. i usually let them know that they have about 10 feet before you. a straight shot, and wallace 10 feet away, and they can make the decision what they want to do from that point. every now and then, and visually impaired customer wants to be

dropped off right at the shelter. so they can go to the left or the right from there. >> ok, you want to take one big step when you step off. the shelter is straight ahead. >> if i get on the bus and asked a bus driver to please tell me when to get off at seven straight, the bus driver very often will tell me to just look at the sign, and i will say that i cannot see the sign because and visually impaired. sometimes, the bus driver gets it. some of the time, the bus driver does not get it at all. it is really difficult when you do not see well to understand where things are. it is one of those issues where people do not see it from the outside. so when they see me having problems stepping off of curbs or stairs or running into the side of a building or things like that, it would appear to them as though maybe i had been

drinking, but the problem is that there is no contrast between a great building and a sidewalk. >> it is difficult for some drivers i think to understand that i am blind. although i may look like i'm getting along very well, and it did happen to me on several occasions with drivers, questioning my ability to see. they would say, "well, you really are not that blind." not only is that infuriating, but it is just something that cuts to my core. >> there are times that visually impaired customers get on the bus, and they are moving so well that makes me wonder how blind they are, but that is not for me to decide. i'm just here to take them some point a to point b safely. >> i moved all the way across the country specifically to live in san francisco because i knew they had great public transportation.