officer, dr. warren browner, a physician overseeing the $2.5 billion rebuild of cpmc. here to introduce the mayor of san francisco, please join me in welcoming dr. warren browner. [applause] >> thanks, steve. it is now a great pleasure for me to introduce our new mayor. i think everybody knows mayor lee has been a diligent worker in senior management met -- management under many mayors. he was appointed our city administrator in 2005 and then appointed again in 2010. he was unanimously selected the interim mayor by our board of supervisors on january 11 of this year. mayor lee has promised all of us to be inclusive, to tackle

things head on, and to move the bar for. we are all in need of that strength of conviction at this point in time. please join me in welcoming the 43rd mayor of our fair city of san francisco, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you. good morning, everybody. thank you very much for being here this morning. it is my honor to join all of you today. i just wanted to let you know, you know, i am not known to be reading of all bunch of speeches. i really like to speak from the heart. i like to speak from what people are talking to me about, and listen carefully to what their needs are. let me say to you this morning that i really feel the city beat here in this room. it is wonderful because so many

of you, not just a few moments ago, but throughout all of my time, my brief time i have been mayor, have come up to me and wanted to wish not only need the best luck, but wish me and actually ask me how we can partner. so many of you are partnering with our city in some many different ways. this morning, just on behalf of myself, on behalf of members of the board of supervisors here today, supervisors whom i am seeing very regularly these days, but all of us, i just want to say very sincerely, thank you for working with us so much. running a city is no longer just about government. the public-private partnerships that many of you are a part of our essential to the way we run

government, essential to the way we present ourselves throughout all of our community. i know many of you, whether you are with banks, with private institutions, with small businesses, large businesses, you devote so much time in the partnering with our city. i wanted to say thank you. everytime i see you, it is not so much about us doing something for you. it is about what we can do together to improve the city. i want to thank you. every conversation i have had with all of you has always been about how we can do things together. it is in that spirit that i also kind of want to give a shout- out. when you hear about the hilton and about local two coming together and resolving something that has been going on for several years, essentially opening up another place i can actually walk into, you start saying, this is a good year. this is beginning to really feel that all of us are communicating

a little better. i want to say congratulations, local two, and the hilton. let's get everything resolved quickly. [applause] >> thank you, dr. browner, thank you, steve, for your introduction. i also want to emphasize to you what everybody has been talking to me about throughout the whole city. as i walk through the neighborhoods with individual members of the board of supervisors, as i hold town meetings, as i hold so many more meetings in room 200, everyone, to the last person, says, please, find a stops. help us with job creation. help us with getting back to work. help us with how to afford to live in this very expensive city. the only way we can do that is to create and sustain our jobs.

that is why i want to say to all of you and particularly to my colleagues on the board of supervisors, please, let's all focus on jobs this year. it is so and valuable to everyone. the dignity of people right now, their wishes to keep their families in the city, their wishes to have dignity for themselves, is reflected in their ability to find these jobs and in their hope to have jobs in the future not only for themselves, but their kids. this is a very personal objective that i have learned through thousands of meetings with people, through the handshakes i have had. i want to say to you that it cannot just be on business. it has to be on business and government working together to create jobs. that is why i spent so much time with supervisor david chu

in rolling out this mid-market tax exemption. it is a new way that we have got to work together on. it is one that i think not only will help us anchor one of the most important companies that the city has come and we have many important companies, but this one,twitter, will grow exponentially the next few years. it will have an international identity. it has got a home base in san francisco. more importantly, it will be an anchor for the mid-market, an area of the city that has been our skid row for so many years. that is why it is so important for us to establish an anchor there, to roll out a six-year payroll tax exemption, one that is calculated to not only bring in the additional 2000 jobs that we think will be afforded for

this one company, but it will also attract other businesses. the economy of our city has been changing. even though we have an unemployment rate today of about 9.5%, and that represents about 41,000 san francisco residents being unemployed, you have got to know that we have a lot of hope. the hope that we have instilled through our projects, the hope that we of gained through what we have done correctly and vigorously, with our private partners in mission bay, it simplifies what we do all over the city. that is the same thing we are doing on mid-market. we're trying to catalyze with an anchor and enroll more -- unroll more. i have had a lot of conversations. if twitter stays here, we are coming. we are coming to where they are. we can find our way to san

francisco, find our way back to san francisco. we are doing the right thing. i want to let you know it is not just this, it is the spirit we are creating, the venture, the partnerships we are creating with this business to help us alleviate a problem. that problem has been a blight along mid-market, the hopelessness that has been reflected in so many people there who don't find jobs, who cannot find their way out. we have that hope coming. having said that, because our economy is changing, as you know, we have been working hard to attract technology, green tech jobs for the city. i want to announce today yet another revelation. it is not just twitter. is zenga with their game and many other companies in the on- line game industry that is coming, that is beginning to

expand their offices here in the city. it has been buying up 14 acres in mission bay because we have done the right thing in building that infrastructure. those kinds of technologies are still coming. they're still being attracted to our city. as of today, i wanted to make sure that you know that the other company has been here a while, but they are expanding. auto desk technologies, and their online entertainment software, is expanding. today, they just told me that they're adding some 16,000 more square feet to their offices that will invite another 75 people to work in the city to add to their 575 persons already. that is another indication that people have hope in our city. as long as we are headed in the right direction, we will get those jobs going.

i do want to say to you that we have a big challenge as well. while we are creating those jobs, while we are doing our best to change, to do the right things, we have a big challenge in front of us. what is at stake with our redevelopment agency and the work that they have done to lure private investment in our city, it is at stake. we promised years ago when congresswoman pelosi was the speaker, and she allowed us to get a lot of federal funds, she helped us get a valuable funds to clean up hunters point and shipyards, and senator feinstein and our delegates worked together for us to get the navy to get to a point where they can sell and turn over treasure island, all these projects cost a lot of federal, state, and local dollars to match.

what is at stake is a promise we made that over 10,000 jobs would be created by these projects. we were successful and have been successful in luring some $250 million sitting in our front living room, ready to go, on hunters point, and treasure island, and transbay terminal, and other ports were we have used redevelopment correctly. we are not the wrong agency. we are not the ones that you have heard stories about throughout the state that might have done abusive things. we have done it correctly. we have learned over the years how to build affordable housing, how to lure private investment, how to make those partnerships and those contractual obligations stir the whole development of large areas in the city. they represent our future. they represent the hope that we have. i want to say to you today that,

you know, in looking at what our governor is doing, and knowing that we were about to receive some hurt from the state, you can call it realignment or anything you want, but it is economic curt, we can take our share. hurt with hope is ok. we have known that. we have gone through many years together of that budgets. at the end of all of those dark tunnels, we have always had some hope. so, i say to you today, if the governor has not changed the language of his proposal so that we can save our projects, then i will ask all of you here today, and our whole delegation in sacramento, to change direction. we cannot afford to have the elimination of redevelopment without language in the governor's proposal but protect our very valuable projects. 10,000 jobs, 570 immediate

construction jobs that we have identified. the hundreds of affordable housing units that we are making. john chang is here today. i have already ask him. we will walk through our project with him so he can see how it is done right. i know he has heard a lot of stories and audited a lot of agencies that have not done it right. we are doing it right here. we have worked closely together with our delegates to do it correctly here. i asked you to take a look the next week or so. it is a critical time. we submit inappropriate language to the governor. we have asked him to make sure that our projects are protected, in fact our own delegates have indicated the projects should be protected. we need to make sure of that because private investors are looking at the language we are looking at and it is cause for concern. if there is cause for concern and they have promised to

deliver $250 million in the next few years to immediately break ground and do all the things we promised to do to create those 10,000 jobs, if that is running risk, then this city and county has to take a different direction from the governor. i ask you to pay close attention to that. it is a big thing. all right? [applause] i say to you today that hurt with hope is ok, because san francisco always finds its way. if you suggest to the governor's lack of attention on this that you are going to give us hurt without hope, we cannot take that as a city and county. i will help lead the effort with the other 10 mayors on this. we are working closer together with them as well. they're looking for hope and everybody in the city is looking for hope. that is why i not only embrace the work the chamber is doing in

partnership with the city, but i want to make sure you know we have got to give everybody openly the city. this is our city of hope. this is what we came together to do. this is what i signed up for. i want to let you know, it has been a wonderful two months. yes. even though it is the hardest thing i have ever done, because there are so many people to meet, the thing that drives me the most is the people of the city and what they are willing to do to keep the city's flavor and vibrancy together. i will say it from the heart that i know there are a lot of people running for mayor. i know i have good friends who i have worked with. i want you to say to them as they run for mayor, you had better exemplify how you love this city. if you don't love the city and every part of it, nobody deserves to be mayor. that is what i am learning today. you have got to love the city in

every possible way and bring hope to everybody that they can live here, afford to be here, have jobs, and be part of the greatest experiment the country has, being part of san francisco. thank you very much. [applause]

>> he has looked at the quality. he believes in people and human rights. he's one of the greatest guys i know and i'm so happy that he is our major. i bring to you mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> good afternoon. welcome. thank you very much for that wonderful introduction. i have a lot to be happy about. this is the 100th anniversary celebrating international women's day and to tell you we have quite a bit to celebrate.

we probably have the highest number of women commissioners ever in the history of the city today. isn't that wonderful we have clearly a good and growing balance of women on the board of supervisors, commissions, agency appointments, and department heads. i'm proud to be heading up this very complicated city. [laughter] one that does not let me sleep very much. certainly -- i said this in many occasions. these last eight weeks, i've fallen in love with the city evening the for the eight weeks ago because it's such a wonderful place to be. every community that i visite, t fascinates me how so many other people who work here, but even

those who do not just love the city and they do what they can to make sure it is running well. it is very natural that as i am thrust with the responsibility of being mayor that i look for talent. i think a lot of the talent is with the women in san francisco. [applause] it has been my pleasure to have been an employee of this wonderful government for some 22 years now. to take you back, i had the pleasure of serving another majoyor some years ago, one that taught me a lot of things. one of the things that i recall back in the late 1990's, the early 2000's, was when i was the director of public works. there was this report that came

out. it had been a conference at the united nations and this report was being taken very seriously by the commission on the status of women, but one of the things it had not been able to do was penetrate key departments of the city that had been male- dominated for many years. would you think dpw fit that description? it certainly did. this report was handed to me through the mayor's office. of course, the mayor then was mayer brown. and said, "what are you going to do with this?" of course, the first thing you do is read it with the understanding that there's probably a lot of information there that's going to be very hard and goals and programs that will be difficult to implement

at the department of public works, which have historically been a very male-dominated agency. we made a commitment to the mayor that we would study that report and implement every single one of those as it applied to every level. i was willing to do that. surrounding the were a lot of other powerful women who said it would not be that hard. all you had to do was pay attention. all you had to do was not take no for an answer. all you had to do was look forward, not backwards. with those very little pieces of advice, we took on that task and we found mid-level managers. we found that many women that were trying to get even to the blue-collar work, the work on the streets, had to be treated more equally. they had to the processes that were fair. as we went up the ladder, we found it to be easier and easier

because we simply paid attention to it in a short time, i was able to report back to our mayor that this program of implementing the principles and making sure that it happened in the very blue-collar department of public works was going on in a very good case. i was able to identify midlevel managers who were women. they were all there for many years, but they just were not invited to become part of management in an open way. i'm here to say to you that a lot of fire successes -- a lot of our successes reflect efforts made in the past. i do not think they were too difficult to make one to focus on them. a lot of that also had to do with the enthusiasm that the city has brought to making those

goals are real. a lot of that enthusiasm came from the women's summits in san francisco. the one that i remember i did not even get a ticket to because it was so crowded. it's the one mayer brown introduced to the city when he revived the mayor's some -- when he revived the women's summit. i knew there would be a lot of things that came out of that. those of you in those days, you were fighting for those tickets. i just gave up and said what do i have to do. as we looked at the videotapes and the press events that followed, we were blessed with a lot of great insights. the encouragement from women of international stature coming from all over the world attending this summit. that makes it easy for me to say

to you that the things that i'm doing now and the things that i have done are a lot credited to the predecessors that opened the doors for me and opened the doors for many women. it's very easy to introduce to you someone who has earned this title. this year's man of the year award goes to willie brown, jr. [applause] come on up. mr. mayor, thank you very much.

i'm just delighted that you are in a position to be able to present this to me. i'm going to work and see if i can win it next year and i'm going to ask you to stick around. [laughter] [applause] and present it to me next year in your capacity as mayor of san francisco. [applause] mayor lee, you have got to know that the women of san francisco that you giave an opportunity to in your capacity as the chief administrative officer of the city -- even to the state, the person you designated to replace you, a woman.

you elevated women to positions of importance inside of the mayor's office. i saw naomi little out there. one of your deputies -- i do not think they called them deputies anymore. every man has his impression on what happened in this city. i am delighted. i'm going to tell you. many of you on the women's summit when we did those -- when i look around and i see jackie and i think about susan and all the other women who headed the mayor's summit -- i hope that as your term unfolds, may yor, you will find athink distinguisn

more ways than one. we clearly became the first city to champion what was supposed to be the process being led by the un. we were the very first city to do that with reference to women. [applause] i do not think there is any other municipality anywhere in this country that ever matched what we did in terms of trying to inspire women to become full participants in the pursuit of justice and equality. i'm just delighted, mr. may or, for you to present this award. to all of you will have been responsible, shelly, and others, i'm delighted. it's going to go on my wall.

i'm going to prove to my daughter susan and to sonia that somebody thinks i'm a man of the year. [applause] [laughter] >> we have one more quick presentation before we do a couple of things. a couple of people mentioned the past womens' summit. jackie is one of them. there are others here. if we could just ask you to stand up. we want to recognize you for the work you did and the history you created. thank you. [applause] >> we have something else for mayor brown. i'm having to present him the jet by night -- jdei knight

award for all the years he's been working in the death star. you know all the things he has done to support us. we especially want to give him this award for being the first state legislator in the country to find family planning for low- income women. in the 1970's, when he was on the national board of planned parenthood. i do not know if you know that, but i was there. we want to give him a weapon today to help us as a fundamentalists tried to take those rights away from us. mayer browor brown -- [laughter] [applause] >> may the force be with you.