street. i have always lived around the area. just discovering san francisco in the 1980's as i grew up. i am hoping that we can help support small businesses like this because they are the unique character that makes this a neighborhood so rich and good to live in. i've also been active as a community organizer. i work in chinatown at the chinese progressive association, and my first job was at the mental health center in the richmond district. i guess i have always been somebody that is passionate about civil rights and equality for everyone, and i have a 10- year-old daughter, so having a girl has made me much more sensitive to gender equality and other issues, but i guess i have always been somebody that is vocal about my politics. as a supervisor, i am having to listen to many perspectives before making key decisions. there was a crosswalk where one of the staffers' was recently hit. so, there will be much more

seniors and their families around the area. we are trying to focus on whether a stop sign or stop light might help. i am trying to look at issues of senior nutrition programs, alzheimer's research, but even housing policies that allow our buildings to become more senior- friendly. also looking at how it supports senior services and unique neighborhood by neighborhood programs called aging in place or village models that allow people who are older or seniors that are getting older to be able to support each other and stay in their homes and communities longer so they can contribute to their communities as long as possible as opposed to institutionalizing them. i frame my politics as i support working families, and livable community, and small support for the small businesses because they are the backbone of the economy. even my district, there are pockets of poverty and many people out of work, so supporting those unemployed and underemployed people, supporting struggling small businesses in the difficult economy.

there's a bunch of vacant storefronts, so we are trying to find people that would rent those spaces. the bookstore over there, and down this way, there's a bunch of businesses that have been closing. >> the book been in here has been in a long time. >> i support small businesses compared to chain stores that have been coming into some of the vacant storefronts, but i am trying to be sensitive to the local merchants because i think they make up the unique character and diversity of our neighborhoods. >> you go to lafayette, and i was there just reading to a bunch of kids, but that was really fun. i was reading to fifth graders. what grade are you in? >> certification. supervisor mar: -- >> third. supervisor mar: i serve on the first five commission. each county has a commission that oversees money that supports children, toddlers, and

infants to pre-kindergarten kids, so i am trying to ensure that at the state level, we advocate for strong support for young children and their families and good parenting support as well. >> often, we have to govern with our hearts and about social concerns, so 80,000 people in the richmond district have sometimes different needs than people in the mission district, so often, those of us that our elected officials along with department heads and hard- working staff have to make tough decisions. they are political in nature in many ways, even though some people may deny that they are political. all of us at times our politicians, but we try to govern with our hearts for the best interests of everyone in our neighborhoods. i have always considered myself as having progressive politics as i believe in a vision where people have their needs met, and i believe in equity. when people have special needs, we should be considerate of that. i also feel that working families and the lowest income population should have a safety net, and we should have human

rights and equality and civil rights for people as well. it's that is being progressive, and i am very proud of being a progressive. >> good morning. i've got my giants cap on because i'm celebrating today. if i was going to be running today, i would probably have this cap on as well. good morning, people. we are here today to kick off what is the 100th anniversary of our data breakers. 100 years ago, bought in 1912 ran the first cross country race in san francisco -- bob.

he won the race in 44 minutes and 10 seconds, i think it was. 100 years later, we are still celebrating that run. the neat thing about it is we have not only kept the new history of this, but we understand that bob's grandson, bob burnett from houston, texas, in celebration of his grandfather's run 100 years ago, will also be running in this year's beta breakers race for the first time. wherever you are, we will see you at 7:00 on sunday, and hopefully, you have a fantastic race because it will be one that i think will be a very celebrating race with our new sponsors and all of the volunteers we have. today, i want to present to you a host of people that will be speaking about not only this race but the excitement we have in hosting this wonderful base to continue making it part of the tradition of san francisco

-- the fun part of san francisco. what i also want to let you know is that while we have some new rules to share, we are also instilling a number of exciting things that we want to make sure the people who registered and the 100,000 spectators, the 55,000 registrants already experienced just a wonderful event in the city. at the start at 7:00 in the morning. that is what i call golfers time. but it will start a little earlier, but it will also end up at the speedway medal in the golden gate park. that will be the new and where the party any handouts will be had in the same tradition, so it will not end in the beach. it will end at speedway medals in golden gate park. this year, we are emphasizing it will be fun. it will be in true -- in the tradition that the beta

breakers always has been, and that is that you can wear any wacky uniform that you want. unfortunately, my wife got rid of my spider-man out a long time ago, so i will not be able to do that, but i will be watching all the fun that all the people have. and, of course, we will have our people in the blue costumes this year, watching out for everybody else and their safety and making sure it is also the safest run we have as well. i wanted to take this opportunity to present to the executives of the beta breakers race this year a proclamation declaring it to be bitter breakers weekend in san francisco. come on up. angela is our new general manager this year. to kick it off, i wanted to make sure she got the proclamation that declares this -- there are a lot of whereases here, and you

will not be able to read as you are running in the race and it. angela is here today along with executives. she will be speaking in a minute. we also have our public safety department, our police department. they will be talking about new rules. i also want to make sure that you hear from representatives -- members of our alamo square neighborhood association, and, of course, our red cross is here as well. i think to take off with the rules chief. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor. i have to bring it down a little bit and be the rule back, and then we will pick it up a little bit again with happy talk after that. i love the bay to breakers. we have policed the beta breakers for a long time, but to make sure it is here in another

100 years, we have to be safe and considered of everyone along the route. this year, alcohol and flows have been banned. they pose a significant safety hazard and negatively impact the neighborhoods. they contribute largely to that, and we have to be considered to everybody along the route. to keep everybody comfortable, i know when people are running, it is a long ways, but it is only about a quarter of the link the marathon is. if you have to go, you have to go. please it one of the 1200-plus for the parties that will be along the route instead of going in somebody's garden. zero tolerance for public drunkenness or the public consumption of alcohol. we will be exercising with as much discretion as we can strict enforcement on anybody that is influencing anybody else's good time or their neighborhood. the news's behavior has got to go away in favor of good, clean

fun. so have a blast. beta breakers. [applause] ed lee -- mayor lee: beachy is pretty cool about it. he is not at all heavyhanded. come on up, angela. >> thank you. i just want to thank everyone here today for working with us over the last year to put together what we believe is going to be one of the best, the most fun, and memorable occasion for this race. in honor of this 100th running, we would like to give to mayor ed lee the bid #100 in commemoration. [applause] mayor lee: rostov mirkarimi -- ross mirkarimi has been

steadfast in his participation on this. robert is here to say a few words on this. >> thank you very much. supervisors at the coastal commission today and was not able to make it, but he asked me to pass on a few words. first of all, thank you very much to the city and race organizers for doing a fantastic job and getting people ready for this race. also, it is a wonderful thing that we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of this race. racers will spend most of their time in district 5, and ross is excited about a happy and fun and safe sunday for everybody involved, including athletes, families, children, and all the attendees. just wanted to pass that on. mayor lee: i understand ross is not here because he is practicing his speech so he can make that speech during a race, right? ben ellison, come on up.

>> thanks so much for having us. i represent alamo square neighborhood association. we got to get to this year and formed a big group of nine neighborhood associations, and i want to read those to you because i want you to know of the community involvement that was there. the panel labour association, alamo square neighborhood association, hayes valley neighborhood association, lower haight neighborhood association, coal valley improvement association, and a sunset park neighbors. we got together after the race last year, and we formed a big group, and that is when we sort of made a lot of changes for the race. we got together -- you know, the mayor's department, supervisor

mirkarimi, the police department, the beta breakers organizer, and all the neighborhood groups, so we got together and formed some new rules and all that came out with all the help of the organizers, and we want to thank these guys so much for all your help that you did for us. as the neighborhoods, you know, we were a little bit mad with what was going on the previous years. we just wanted to set a little bit more rules. we want to thank the police officers also came in. captain o'leary, captain max, and our new chief here. anyway, we just want everybody to come out and have a great time with the race. we are there. we're going to have ambassadors running around meeting and greeting everybody, so thank you so much, and had a good time. mayor lee: thank you.

i know that you have at heart while we have a great event, we also have neighborhoods it is running through, so we want to make sure that this race protect everybody and is sustainable for all the neighborhoods in san francisco that it goes through. i want to thank everyone for being here. it is about fun. we have over 155,000 people -- spectators and writers -- in the race. we expect that this race will continue. this is the first of a five-year commitment from zazzle, and that is a great name for the people sponsoring this race. the red cross will be out there helping our police and army, and our department of public works will be out there cleaning up everything. hopefully they do not have to work too hard. let's have a great bay to breakers race. [applause] thank you, everybody.

>> my father was a lebanese immigrant. he would say that range today is very good luck. we are seeing good luck on our ceremony today. and an upsurge in interest with the sustainability program. in july of 2009, the executive

director -- executive directive talking about healthy and sustainable food for san francisco, i asked all departments to carry out posturing food production in the city. today, we have are before us, literally, groundbreaking legislation. what he will sign into law today, what the mayor will sign into law today represent a big of a to the city's regulation of local food production. our community gardens and backyard kitchen gardens will be permitted everywhere under this legislation. surprisingly enough, prior to this legislation, the sale of

that food was not. the products are primarily derived from locally grown foods. it establishes operational standards to ensure compatibility of urban agriculture within our existing neighborhoods. there are [unintelligible] from the agricultural commission as well. it is my great pleasure to introduce the champion of environmental sustainability.

he was director of public works and the city administrator. he has been instrumental in moving electric vehicle policies forward as well as leading an overall effort to make the city far more sustainable. it is my great pleasure to introduce you today. >> good afternoon, everybody. it is my personal pleasure to be out here. i want to thank supervisor mar, the environmental department, the agricultural commissioner, the real people and volunteers, i have just been acquitted with the names of eli and caitlin.

and all of these more famous people in my opinion because of what they have been doing with this example. we are personally very happy to sign this legislation. i know we got started some time ago. we are out here, but we are not going to be out here for five hours like the planning commission meetings. we are out here to do something very good for neighbors. we have the neighborhood here that are all in concert. it will be very good deal for the city. my wife wants to be on that list to be able to buy organic. she is one of those crazy 5:00 36:00 in the morning light

people. it don't bother me, i am going out. i think this is wonderful. the agricultural ordnance, which is smart legislation, and it is all one of the legislation's that brings government, volunteers, and people of residents closer together. it is things that we do that we are proud of. i would rather win more friends than create political enemies. i will perhaps set the standards a little higher. they have got to come and support these types of things that are greener, the are more. we have got to break open these lots. we have got to do something more.

the supervisors got on that very quickly because it was natural for them to do we will enjoy the food produced here. that is why the health department is involved and that is why there are so many other agencies involved. i am here as a proud moment to be here with the community and represent that more of this has to be done. i was here when we tried to unclog these flooded streets.

and actually do something that label be proud of it for many generations to come. this movement has been fantastic. it is one i clearly endorse. i know that we are going to unveil some really great maps. we will really take advantage of this ordinance that allows us to do this. we will do this, and with the cooperation. >> of 4 i introduced our next speakers -- before i introduce

our next speaker is, from the early stages of this process, we joined with the office and the local at cultural community, i have to say, being in the department for three years, it is one of those were moments when the planning commission will be when everyone was saying yes instead of no. we are responsible for what you see growing around us today. they are the owners of little city gardens. and they are really testing the

economic viability of what we are dealing with this whole concept. they have created a transparent communicative community-based business. we are eager to spotlight the benefits. thank you for hosting us today. [applause] >> my name is brooke, this is kaitlin. we are happy to celebrate this important step forward for agriculture. it is important for us because we have celebrated the first year anniversary for working this beautiful, fertile piece of land. this lot was an overgrown jungle. really serious leagues. -- weeds. it has been a pretty action packed year for us, transforming the lot from that to this.

we can't think of a better way to make this year -- the mark this year of hard work than the signing ceremony. little city gardens is an urban far more people can come to learn about agriculture and talk about food systems. little city gardens is also a small business in that we aim to support the work that we do have a place that we hold in the community by growing, selling, and distributing fresh produce. we started this business because we believe that productive urban farms have a great role to play in the future of our cities. urban farming has always had an important presence in san francisco. we felt like the agricultural movement could take on the sustainability of some of them could support themselves economically. when we began, there were no gardens that we could look for

as a model. we knew there'd be ample benefit and ample challenge in the process. we have experienced plenty of both. we are totally awed every day. and also, as we are trying to carve out a new space, we have challenges every day. as many of you know, the first major obstacle here was the fact that selling the produce was not legal. the zoning code did not allow us to support ourselves. thank you for all of your hard work and putting together this ordinance. we are grateful for the way we are able to work together to make this happen. close to home is not a new or particularly innovative idea. it is a simple act that the communities have only recently

lost. we are pleased to live in a city that recognizes the importance of ideas. with the passage of this legislation, they are validated and inspired. we will be able to test out the business plan. we have a couple of ways to go -- but we have had some ways to go, to recognize the agriculture as part of the necessary city landscape. [applause] >> this is a great testament to your hard work. hnext, i would like to introduce a president chiu. he was a co-sponsor of the ordinance. david is excited to see this legislation come to fruition. >> it is great to see everyone

here today. it takes a village to build a garden. it is great to see this village around us. i want to thank the mayor had his predecessor. and our friends from the department of the environment, you help do this. i also want to thank supervisors as the chair of the land use committee. as was the case at planning, a very friendly reception with a sea of green t-shirts. also all want to thank all the men and women that stand behind me better part of the urban agriculture alliance. you're the ones that came to my office late last fall and confirmed for me what i had wandered for many years. can we bring it green back to the urban jungle? the district that i represent in the northeast part of the city, we have very little green.

one thing i had been wondering for years, why can't we use those little plots of land in the middle to growth in the. what is so exciting about today is that we are creating a new urban experience. the things that we can smell when we are out in the city of the food and the greenery that we can touch, they are of course the things that we can eat. the reason that this is so wonderful is that san francisco has always done the cutting edge of being on the forefront of what it means for the environment. what we are doing in san francisco hopefully will be on the cutting edge of the urban agriculture movement. and on the cutting edge of what it means to have some of the best food in the country.