separate in our public schools. there is much work we have done here, and now we see we have our first asian-american mayor, the first time we have seen four asian american sitting on the board of supervisors. it is certainly an honor and privilege for me to be here today. i want to recognize the history not only of our communities, but of many communities that have fought for us to be here today. again, happy new year. thank you for being here and joining in on the celebration. [applause] >> thank you, supervisors. assessor phil ting plays a crucial role in our city. his office is responsible for calling on all of us to pay our property taxes. maybe not so popular, but we like him. [laughter]

his office makes sure that the revenue is here for the city budget. without further ado, please welcome city assessor phil ting. >> thank you. i am usually not popular with everyone else, but with other city officials, i am very popular. come budget time, they come calling. welcome to city hall. happy new year, everybody. it is an honor to see all of you here. it is a reminder for all of us as public servants that we are here to serve you. the day we opened city hall to all of you -- it is quite an honor to see all of you here celebrating with us. it is a reminder of how we have to constantly keep city hall opened, not just for the folks that have access, but for those that do not. it has been a struggle. as my colleagues have talked about, it has been a struggle for the community.

and it is not over yet. we have some high hurdles to face, serious budget issues coming up this coming year. we have a lot of strong economic issues, moving forward, but i know that you know that all of us are working hard every day to solve those problems. again, happy new year. [[s speaking chinese] happy new year, everybody. [applause] >> thank you, phil. i know the general counsel is here. would you like to say a few words now? [applause] >> [speaking chinese]

[applause] dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, is truly a privilege and honor to join you tonight to celebrate the chinese lunar new year. it is so amazing to see so many friends, not only of chinese americans, but also asian americans, friends from the mainstream, to celebrate this important holiday. as we know, chinese new year is the longest and most important celebration in the chinese calendar. it is a time for family reunion, a time to reaffirm the value of friendship. it is also a time to reflect on the past, while looking forward

with renewed hope, to the fresh start of a new year. the year 2010 is very important to remember. last year, the relationship between china and the united states of america has achieved new progress. people to people contacts and exchanges between our two countries grow rapidly. last year, 3 million visited each other. 1 million from china, 2 million from the united states of america. we see our mutual friendship enhanced, our cooperation consolidated and expanded. especially, our bilateral trade reached a new record of $385.3 billion.

29.3% more than the previous year. that is 150 times more than 32 years ago, when china and america established diplomatic relations. and the state of california maintains its leading position in exports to china. in the fourth quarter of last year, california exported x 0.8 billion u.s. dollars to china, which is 28% more than the same period of last year. 35% is from the bay area. the year 2010 is also a very remarkable in the relationship between china and san francisco. last year, shanghai and san francisco celebrated the city's anniversary of the sister city relationship. three mayors of this city led a

large delegation to shanghai and inaugurated the grand opening of the san francisco post at the world expo. they open their second office in beijing. last year, we maintained frequent exchanges and close cooperation and achieved new, substantial results. in the context of the new year, you have already had a promising beginning. as you know, one month ago, chinese president hu jintao paid a visit to this country and held productive talks with president obama. both our leaders declared their commitment to building a cooperative the partnership based on mutual respect and mutual benefits. his visit is important and will

surely give new impetus to the overall development of our bilateral relations. in all 50 states, the state of california and san francisco, in particular, will benefit from this. this year is also a remarkable year for san francisco. for the first time in its 162- year history, you have and we have four asian american supervisors. and the first time in history, we have a chinese-american mayor. it is not only, i think, a recognition of asian americans, chinese americans, but of the contribution to the overall development to the city, and also, a vivid expression of the cultural makeup of san

francisco which made the city so dynamic, strong and beautiful. ladies and gentlemen, the chinese counsel stands ready to work with you in the future to work and make san francisco -- as mere ly said -- the best gateway to china. i thank you for your attention and i wish everyone a very happy and healthy new year and a most enjoyable evening. to represent my best wishes, i have a proclamation to present to mayor ed lee. [applause]

>> don't drop it, ed.

>> thank you so much, general counsel. all of you are invited to a reception after the conclusion of this program. this event could not have happened without our sponsor this evening, at&t. i want to welcome the regional vice-president mark blackman. >> happy new year of the rabbit.

i wish you much prosperity and good health. at&t is happy to be a part of this rich and beautiful tapestry of the city. as a new resident -- i just relocated this summer. one of the first people i met when i arrive this summer was then-city administrator ed lee. i am so grateful to now be celebrating with you with our first chinese-american mayor in my new home of san francisco. thank you so much for letting us be a part of this wonderful evening. we wish you a happy new year and please enjoy the events afterwards. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mark. thank you to at&t. we have many officials joining us for the celebrations this evening. i see supervisor david campos is with us. [applause] supervisor ross mirkarimi. [applause] and supervisor malia cohen.

[applause] where is supervisor scott wiener? [applause] thank you for being here. we have our district attorney mr. gascon. public defender jeff a adachi. and our fire chief, joanne as white. [applause] acting city administrator, amy brown. [applause] port director monique moyer is with us. [applause] and from senator mark lino's office, susan slim. [applause] from assemblyman tom ammiano's

office. thank you for joining us in the celebration. we will have the final performance of the evening from the chinese american international school. they helped to start this celebration earlier this evening. i do not know if all of us were here but they are now returning. they will be performing for us and the beautiful traditions of the chinese new year, the alliance stance. please welcome students from the chinese american international school. -- the lion's dance. -- the lion's dance. [applause]

[applause]

[applause]

>> [inaudible] [applause] this is really a unique performance. before we end tonight's program, i want to, on behalf of the city, thank at&t again for your

generous sponsorship, making the celebration happening. we would liked everyone to join us for the reception. we want to thank owner of moonstar. we want to thank you for your contribution. [speaking foreign language] >> thank you.

>> mayor for the city and county of san francisco. >> tonight, san francisco has a

new interim mayor. >> a few minutes ago, city administrator now interim mayor ed lee, emerged happy but humble. >> in 2011, a temporary or interim mayor was selected by the board of supervisors, what is an interim mayor? why do we need one? is it the mayor's supposed to be elected by san francisco voters? how did this happen? let's rewind the story a little and look at the people and complicated process that led to this historic transition. the last time san francisco had an interim mayor was 30 years ago, when, in 1978, george mosconi, was assassinated by supervisor dan white. >> both to grow rather mosconi and harvey milk have been shot and killed. >> they needed a new mayor at the time.

the board got together and appointed dianne feinstein. >> we did not have much to go on and looked at 1978. there were no hints as to who put it on the board, if any discussion occurred about a process. >> what triggered san francisco's search over 30 years later was gavin newsom's election to the office of lieutenant governor. >> i put myself up as a candidate for the tenant governor, won, thanks to the overwhelming support of the city. >> that is when we try to look for someone to take over his final year of the mayoral term. >> it is clear we have to do something in san francisco. we have to pick a mayor. that job was not up to the voters but the board of supervisors. by a majority vote, supervisors are able to choose the interim

mayor. that is when the fun began in city hall. who would he be? >> we needed to protect -- perfect the process so that once the board asked us for that process, we could actually have something in place that was well tested that we could provide to them. >> mayor newsom would be sworn in as lieutenant governor in early january. so the board of supervisors had barely two months after the november election to select an interim mayor to complete gavin newsom's term. but how would the board do this? san francisco's charter guided -- offered little guidance. >> although it was obvious we would appoint an interim mayor, there was no time line for the two to occur. we looked to outside counsel for answers. they researched those questions. while they researched the legal

angle, we began the research on the parliamentary level. at the beginning of the calendar year 2010, we started to craft a generic process for a successor for mayor. being a parliamentarian of the board, i have been working on the process itself. i have been working with two one and parliamentarians in the city. we did some role-playing and tried to contemplate all of the different variables that the board would encounter in appointing a successor mayor. >> the first time i became aware of the process as when my editor and myself asked us how the process would work. we quickly became tongue tied and did not have an answer. you went to the clerk of the board of supervisors to ask, the difference supervisors, the city attorney's office how it would

work, and no one really had the rule book on it, so they had to figure it out. >> just seven days after gavin newsom was elected to the office of lieutenant governor, on the member 9, the board of supervisors began to grapple with the responsibility of choosing an interim mayor. >> colleagues, i am concerned about the transition to successor mayor, in term mayor, for the city in -- and county of san francisco. we need a collaborative process. the earlier we get started, the better. >> with all these are the questions about procedures, there was an extra twist. the city office recused his office. >> the city administrator recused himself from the beginning. he is running for mayor himself, so he did not want to have any ideas of conflict of interest.

santa clara county will be providing information to the board of supervisors on how they can proceed. the board met again on the clinic to revisit the issue. >> it is my understanding there are at least four authorities that could potentially govern the process we are talking about. it is incumbent upon us that we have a process that is consistent with all of those things. >> on the member 16, you saw the board of supervisors direct me as the clerk to create a process that the board could utilize to nominate, select, and appoint a successor mayor. >> usually, when the board rules are silent, the role of order is the controlling parliamentary authority. so my recommendation is that the sports that have a process, received a draft, and then make modifications to it as you see fit.