>> good morning, everyone. welcome to city hall. the great city hall of san francisco. [applause] we have been busy this morning but it has been a pleasure all morning to greet so many people love the city. i cannot think of another 10 people who love this city. i want to thank each and everyone of you because your volunteering -- i know that word. volunteer for one of the greatest cities in the world. what you will be doing, sacrifices in time, interactions with you, with various commissioners, it will be a wonderful experience, one that

many of you will continue to do, and some of you about to do for the first time. i see former supervisor bevan dufty is here. david from the department of the barnett. emily. commissioner shorter, thank you for being here. bruce, thank you for being here. tom, roberta from the mta, thank you for being here. please forgive me, i am still young. [laughter] i have so many others serving on different commissions already. thank you. we have city departments that are here. i know we have the department of the environment, film commission, commission on the status of women, health status board. we also have -- department of the environment, mta, and of

course, the asian art museum. there are six commissions that will received today here 10 new commissioners. i want to thank you for your service. that may go through some of your names. good to see you again, jim. for the asian art museum, which is responsible for determining policy for the administration of our asian art museum, the city's duel that holds one of the most comprehensive collections of asian art in the western world. jim, you will be joining 26 commissioners who all share a fellowship based on the conviction that the asian art museum is unique, the best of its kind, and a tremendous asset to our city. your expertise will be a substantial supplement to the

work of your fellow commissioners, and notably, your background in finance and work cochairing the campaign for the san francisco ballet will be an extremely welcome asset. like all the other commissioners, the import work done by the 27 commissioners, the strength of the museum greatly benefit our whole city. it enhances our quality of life, a reputation as a cultural center, and also -- an important point -- city appealed that brings in visitors and millions of dollars a year. thank you for your work and for what you will be doing with the commission. thank you for being here. [applause] on the commission of the status -- on the status of women, what an important commission. san francisco is the birthplace of the united nations and the

first and still only city that has enacted a local ordinance reflecting the principles of the united nations convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. i am confident my appointment to this body will enhance and support the continued efforts of the department and commission to ensure equitable " treatment of women, as well as to enhance women pause health and safety throughout san francisco. felicialicia gamez. a new addition to the city family. commissioner brown has already has professional ethics. that is bar none, impressive. she has founded her own firm, serves on the board of the city's lawyers association, and above all else, has proven herself to be a leader, utilizing some of her best

attributes, analyzing, collaborating, and offering solutions. as a latina attorney who had dedicated a significant amount of her time working on issues that impact the immigrant, latino, and lgbt community, i am confident commissioner gamez will add a unique and needed perspective to the san francisco commission on the status of women. she has set herself, change starts with stronger individuals. with that chsaid, i generally look forward to seeing the results of your work on the commission. thank you for being here. [applause] nancy kirschner rodriguez. thank you for serving. with over 25 years of experience in national, state, and local policies, and as a former

director of governmental affairs in my office, and the is uniquely qualified to expand the work of the commission on the status of women. she currently shares her expertise by serving on a variety of bodies from the city, including the board of directors jewish community council center, and is a driving force behind the work being done by the san francisco collaborative against human trafficking. her experience with government on all levels and your desire to better the lives of all of those we certification leaves me confident that and to make an incredible mark on this community and will move forward policies that create many new and continued opportunities for women of san francisco and beyond. thank you, nancy, for your service. [applause] stephanie simmons. thank you for reupping, as they

say. appointed to the commission four months ago, it is my pleasure to reappoint commissioner simmonds to her post. stephanie is someone who has great ties to our city. whether it is to the business community, african-american community, or our community of women, she is a strong advocate for all. we look forward to stephanie's continued service to the city in her capacity as a commissioner. thank you for your service. [applause] the commission on the environment. what a commission that keeps me busy, but busy with positive things because it is all about our future, what we are leaving behind as the city continues to pursue our goal of zero waste by 2020, we can boast we are leading the nation with a 77% signed diversion rate, thanks to the department of the

environment. innovative policies such as this, the city's energy efficiency policy, green jobs, and many more thank you for being and reupping yourself on the commission and the environment. while who describes itself as a serial entrepreneur and start-up executive. his work spans from his current job as chief operating officer of earth aid ink -- inc., a proprietary universal platform that gets households to track their water usage to advising many prominent, elected officials across the country to energy and policy technology. he's a talented individual, and i'm pleased to be one of those elected officials raul has chosen to advise. i look forward to more advice in the future and i'm pleased to

appoint raul today. thank you, raul. ruth ger vanous, -- gervanis, thank you for reupping. ruth brings years of experience teaching in the public school system, wogging as an environmental consultant volunteer and ruth has also proven she is a wealth of knowledge on all things related to her environment. she's focused much of her attention on maximizing sustainability in the redevelopment of treasure, efforts that may just come to fruition someday soon. she's focused much of her attention on maximizing sustainability in all of these represent development projects but i'm sure how much she will advance our innovative policies and i continue to look forward to seeing this come out of the commission in the very near future. thank you, commissioner.

[applause] our film commission, thank you, direct robertson for being here today and leadership that you have been providing. i'm seeing more and more films and been on the set of a last one was a very, especially thing because i got a picture can nicole kidman. how many of you did? [laughter] but another reup, a good friend of mine, one has led not only labor but a great community and great labor leader, bob morales. thank you, bob, for reupping on the film commission. bob was appointed in 1996 by my good friend willie brown, making him the longest serving film commissioner i know. tpwhorn el salvador, central america, he came to the u.s. in 1958. after completing his education in san francisco, he joined the united states army where he served for two years.

commissioner maradis is president of the steam electrics, hispanic caucus and california teamsters hispanic caucus and brings a valuable labor voice to this commission. rightly so. bob's work has been honored by various groups including the united way of california, martin luther king society of san francisco, the united states congress and state of california. his talents are great and we're happy they reside here on our film commission. thank you, bob, for being here and reupping. don, thank you very much for reserving on this film commission. you have been here since 2000 when you were appointed by former mayor willie brown. why is there such a connection? don has previously served as a board member of the museum of the city and county where he took part in establishing a world class history museum.

is a tireless advocate for gay rights and strong supporter of the film industry here in san francisco. don, it's a pleasure, you're advising me, doing great work and i want to welcome you again to the film commission. thank you very much. [applause] our health services board will continue to be a very, very important board for our city. karen breslin, thank you, and congratulations for being elected to that board. pulling from her 26 years of experience working for the city, karen was elected to the health service board in 2001, was re-elected by members in 2006 and this year ran uncontested. commissioner breslin is a former president of this board and is currently serving as vice president. she's also served as chair of several health service board committees, including the budget

and finance committee and rates and benefits committee. karen, thank you for your service and i will look forward to your continued work with the board as we pursue structural changes to our city's benefit programs. thank you very much and congratulations, again, for being elected and appointed. finally one of the most difficult commission board for the city, our m.t.a. board of directors, and i saw nat ford here, good to see you, and i number of commissioners. jerry, you're rejoining here and you're reupping and talk about the military you need to reup on for m.t.a. but have you my faith and you have my confidence, jerry, in bringing forward to this board a wonderful perspective, one i think you have held and we

talked about had many, many discussions about. first and foremost i want to thank the board of supervisors for their support for jerry's reaappointment. jerry was unanimously approved yesterday, making it possible to take over today. that's a great accomplishment, sir. a native of san francisco, lifelong user of our transit system and currently the m.t.a. board's vice chair, jerry's being reappointed for many reasons. but at the top of this list is his willingness to step up to the plate and work through some very thorny issues and adequately addressing neighborhood and community concerns. jerry's worked to address community concerns related to some of the lines addressed in the t.e.p., transportation improvement project, is a perfect example of the valuable service that director lee provides on the m.t.a. board. jerry's experience with u.p.s.

as well as his work with former mayor agnos, including helping establish a newly formed department of traffic as well as serving as chairman of the mayor's taxi demitty has been proven to be a valuable addition to this board. today at a time when the m.t.a. is dealing with very substantial issues, jerry's willingness to ask tough questions and his inquisitive nature encourages the board and m.t.a. staff to create solutions outside of the box. thank you, jerry, for your hard work. i look forward to your continued leadership on this board. thank you very much. [applause] with this, i will ask all of our appointees to stand up and take the oath of office together. and if you can repeat after me and after each pause, you will state your name in order and also at the end, state your commission in order when it gets to that phrase.

please raise your right hand. i i, do solemnly affirm 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 , that i will bear truth faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the constitution to the state of california, that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation

or purpose of evasion, and i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i'm about to enter, and during such time as i hold the office of -- for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations. [applause]

i present to you the new class of commissioners!

>> welcome to "culture wire." on this episode, we explore what it means to the aged, in today's society -- what it means to be

chicana in today's society. chica chic features an array of artwork by five leading chicana artists that addresses a range of issues such as integration, sustainability, and integration. using a distinct visual approach, each of the artist's response to the shifting needs of their communities in ways that offer unique perspectives and multiple points of entry. >> the exhibition is to bring together the voices of a new generation chicana artists, all of whom reference the works of the civil-rights movement in their works, but they are also responding to a new cultural concerns and new cultural circumstances. >> the works in the show include a large canvas depicting a

woman washing the beach with her hair at the u.s./mexican border. the painting encourages the viewer to engage with the current debates over immigration and the politics of women and labor. influenced by the campaigns of the chicano civil rights movement, this oakland artist is a print maker whose work has helped and sustainability with the immigrant community as well as other current sociopolitical issues. this print-based work draws on appropriated agricultural worker manuals and high fashion labels to satirically address class issues, cultural identities, and consumerism. >> angelica -- her father was an agricultural worker, so she has drawn a lot from the materials the agricultural department sends to agricultural workers, referencing the depiction of farm workers and some of the information about pesticide

application. >> mitzi combines a variety of media, including embroidery, to create artifacts of mexican, chicano, pop culture. she greets immensely detailed drawings of celebrities on the same platform of her friends and families. her work combines elements of chicano portraiture and low writer art, rendered in upon new art style, or intricate drawings on handkerchiefs, also -- often associated with prison art. her portrait of three girls is among several of original posters by the exhibition artists, which are on view at various bart stations as part of a public campaign funded by the national endowment of the arts. from the outset, the curator felt it was important for the exhibition to have a public art components of the work could reach the widest possible

audience. more than just a promotion, the posters connect the work of these powerful artists with new audiences, including the vital chicano and latino community. images can be found in bart stations located in san for cisco and oakland. >> it is enormously exciting for me personally and for the institution. the poster with up right after new year's, and i remember very vividly -- i am a regular rider, and i went into the station and saw the first poster i had seen, it was incredibly exciting. it is satisfying to know that through the campaign, we are reaching a broader audience. >> for more information about >> welcome to "culturewire." on this episode, the director of

cultural affairs takes us on a field trip to the mission district to check out odc's new 36,000 square foot campus, the largest in the region. >> for san franciscans, odc has a very significant significance. stands for a venerable performing arts organization celebrating its 40th anniversary of bringing fans and theaters to the bay area. standing with me today on "culturewire" is the theater director of odc. thank you for joining us. i mention that this is the 40th anniversary. >> it is indeed. >> i'm standing with you in a fabulous theater that was completed six months ago in time

for this anniversary. tell me about how it has been going for the last six months. >> absolutely. in terms of the anniversary, the dance company, which is our founding body, is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and it is the 30th anniversary, so it is historic for both sides, and the completion of the theater represents in some ways the completion of our entire campus that began in 2005. it has come to its fruition with the completion of the theater. the theater opening was remarkable. one of the things we wanted to do was to make sure that our community really truly -- our san francisco bay area community understood that this theater was for them. we invited 31 bay area companies to do a day-long performance marathon, so we really launched with a feeling of this is for everyone in this community.

it was a tremendous thing to bring everyone together around the opening of this building. >> you are part of our creative troika, including the founder, brenda wey and k.t. nelson. talk about what it is like to keep this campus going. >> it is a wonderful thing to be working with someone who is certainly your co-worker and also largely your mentor. i inherited the theater at a funny time in its life. it needed to make some decisions as an institution about what it wanted to be. whether it wanted to be exclusively a rental facility, it is needed to be a rehearsal space with a really high ceilings -- whatever it was, having that level of leadership that my founding director is also my boss really made that possible. i really felt like i had great stewardship and we were able to make really innovative decisions for how the theater

could grow over the decade. >> living with -- living with someone who is both your immediate boss and also a working artist is also a huge asset. that is one of the things that keeps the creativity flowing through odc. it is a campus about the creative process at all times. >> the theater was part of a second phase of capital fund raising and community support. the previous one had renovated the space where the rehearsal studios are and the school is, sell what does that sort of say about the importance of the odc in the community? >> i think it's spoke to the two very different tracks of our organization. part of what we do is education and outreach. part of what we do is performance on the part of our company, odc dance, and a third part of what we do is this presenting an incubation stage.

when we came to people to talk about the theater as a second investment after having built the dance commons, the distinct purpose of the theater really came through. what we were going to do with our venue was invest deeply in creativity, deeply in our regional artists, and we were going to do something that most mid-size san francisco venues have struggled to do. >> talk to me a little about the group other than odc that have used this space. >> one of the great pleasures in our opening season was to go back and invite two of our former resident artists to launch this space. arab laung was to invite two of the best known -- our launch was to invite two of the best known companies in the city to share in the event,