willing to give me a four-year scholarship. i took a risk. it was one of the best decisions i made. it was one of the best experiences i had come up being in one of these small liberal arts colleges. it was completely on the opposite side of the world. >> you were one of the few asians there. there was a bristly joke -- bruce lee joke. >> do not talk to my wife. she has these pictures of me in college. my hair was down to here. they did not know what i was. i had a mustache, long hair, big glasses. you cannot tell if i was russian or indian. [laughter] you have to ask. i got a lot of those questions. when people found out i was chinese, and was one of five on campus.

there was a lot of ignorance about chinese-americans on the campus. i had two jokes. i was either bruce lee's brother or a descendant of robert e. lee. [laughter] whenever i got really patriotic, robert e. lee. [laughter] that is how i got into college. [laughter] i used that opportunity in those four years to allow my mind -- i loved studying. it was one of those places where you can read books come interact with professors -- read books, interrupt with professors. none of my class is had more than 10 students at a time. they could interact with you. that was the most welcome ing

part of the college experience. >> you said you are here on a part-time or temporary basis. you do not want to be mayor. you want to have your old job back. it pays more. there are already several people running for mayor. you have until august to make a decision. what if some of your powerful friends came to you and said they did not like to was leading in the polls invite you to run, would you consider it then? >> they have already done that. as powerful as they are, i have been very polite in telling them that i think it is neat to have a mayor go back to helping the city in a different way. if i have a time now where i can change some things so that there is a more unified thought process in the city, perhaps the

standards, actions, and dialogues are more open and we help change the economic and business climate in the city to support the things i have talked about already -- i can help to carry those things out. i do not think you have to be mayor to do it. i understand the power of the mayor's office. i feel i will exhibit my best contribution while this time is here. i will do my best and hopefully will have left with a positive legacy and stay here to help carry some things out. >> how do you deal with the lame duck thing? >> by not quacking. [laughter] i am working on things that need so much attention that there is no such thing this year as lame

anything. people want to continue the dialogue about how to get things done. this so much to do. -- there is so much to do. i set out these five priorities. i feel like we will get to many of them in a positive way. there are so many other things coming that were not part of the agenda. mid market and other places are going to happen. they need constant attention by somebody who can pay attention to it. the person who cannot pay attention to it is the person running for another office. the person who can pay attention is someone who has set aside everything and said they're going to pay attention. that is what i want to do in whatever capacity i have. the midmarket payroll tax thing has caused other businesses to come forward. i have a group of technology companies talking with us about how we can help them.

that has led to another group of businesses who came forward. i have talked with them. these companies have been here for a long time. they want to make sure they continue to have a great connection. they are still contributing. this last weekend, i was participating in a program that used to be called christmas in april. it is now called rebuilding together. they were doing 100 projects on saturday throughout the city. 39 of them were in district 11. i had to be there. i went around to some of the projects. there were hundreds of volunteers from wells fargo, adobe systems, all of these companies that have volunteered. they are corporate center since

-- their corporate citizens. they have been around a long time. i hope to continue working with the established companies that have been here sacrificing and being part of the city and in welcoming in a new generation of companies that i would also call san francisco companies that will be the new philanthropists, the new ceo's that want to make san francisco their focus. >> this new group, these companies are doing well. do they need the corporate welfare we're handing out to them? >> some people may refer to it as corporate welfare. i do not. i have been learning and all this need to learn more about how companies grow. -- and all of us need to learn more about how companies grow.

there are times when you think they're making a lot of money, but there are shareholders and expenses in the city. companies have a choice. time and time again, i am reminded that companies have a choice. they do not have to be in san francisco. many of them are not wanting to be in san francisco. it is their work force that is telling them they should be in san francisco. they may lose that intelligent work force if they leave. it is not economically sound for them to be here. we have higher taxes. we have other disincentives. i am trying to work on those to make sure we're even. the discussion around. tax exemption is kind of punishing people for having large employee groups. why are we doing that as opposed to having a tax base that could generate the same amount of revenue without being so punishing against the numbers of employees you have?

we're trying to grow jobs. there are things these companies are talking to us about that we have not had a good dialogue around for many years. i would not accept the premise it is corporate welfare or give away as much as reigniting the things we always wanted companies to do with and for the city. in addition to employment, they spend a lot of time donating to great causes and being part of a good public-private relationship. >> many companies talk about and threaten to leave. the public policy institute did a study saying that there are few companies that moved out of state. >> i still remember those days when chevron moved. bank of america moved. these were huge partners for many decades. they were icons, if you will.

they moved. what may not be as clear to people is what companies are located in silicon valley and brisbane that are not here. i would have thought they would have moved here first, but they are not here. when you look at those companies like google or hp or other silicon valley's, that is why i went down to talk to the silicon valley leadership forum. there ceo's -- their ceo's had a chance to coordinate with us. they were telling us why they would not moving to san francisco. that gave me another agenda that is not corporate welfare. what can we attract here for them? the key is education. we've got to have an intelligent work force that keeps them wanting to be here. that is the number-one thing.

that is why i investing so much time in creating a strong connection with our city college, school district. they've got to make sure we have a very integrated education system. that will be a key for many years to come. they tell us in no uncertain terms that they come here because these are the best minds. if they have marginal engineers , just being here makes those engineers better when they are interacting with better engineers in the city. they told me about that as well. i think there are many ways to attract businesses. i know that will be a key to any strategy to have a continued educated work force. >> you know better than anybody where the bodies are buried. you have been a city

administrator, fraud investigator. there been 10% cuts with another 10% contingency. all of the fat has been cut in previous years. where would you cut? where could the city save some money? >> my very first job was the whistle-blower investigator under the mayor. some people believe there is some truth to why i have accelerated in of my jobs needed because i know where all the skeletons are. i think the secret to our budget -- we are scraping to the bone. it will be a combination of evening things out. our public safety division's have to get smarter about what they're doing.

this move that the chief made the of the day -- the other day with assistant chiefs. he determined he did not need four assistant chiefs. one of the first moves he made before asking the work force to contribute was to make them deputy chiefs. that save $75,000 right there in salaries. i think there are more efficiencies to be had. this is where we get ideas even from city employees that tell me what we can do to save on workers' comp, expenses we should not be spending. some areas need to shrink in terms of the work force. we're contemplating those as well. we're still keeping our promise of having a core amount of services that the city needs to have and capital funding. there are departments -- no one

is being left alone this year, including public safety. in the past, there were public safety agencies that were hands off. maybe they gave what they thought was contributory in terms of salaries. a lot of us did even more. we actually got decreases. as of july 1, i am making $10,000 less than what i am making today. my salary will be $10,000 less. we are contributing to the pension system as of july 1. sacrifices are being made throughout the work force. people know that i have worked alongside with. i truly appreciate these efforts. i am working closely with them

on the biggest challenges. >> will it be fewer officers on the street with less money -- or less money? >> i think it will be less money. we want to have an approach that has the same number of officers. we may not be getting new classes for recruiting new ones. we still have the ability to higher across different cities. people want to come to san francisco to work. if we do have retirement spots open, we will do cross hires from other departments and other city departments. >> you are listening to the commonwealth club of california radio program. we're talking with ed lee, mayor of san francisco. speaking of the police department, one of your first moves was to hire a police chief.

the head of the police union was overheard saying that he bought the appointment. others have said he is a member of the old boys' network. was that a political choice, that the union got one of their own as chief, that they might be more amenable to renegotiating the pension and kicking back the money in sour or forgoing raises for a third consecutive year? >> none of that injured into my decision making at all. it occurred so suddenly. they were literally confirming the as the vacancy was created. i asked the very same commission that helped to select the last chief to use the same process to

come up with the best group of candidates. i reviewed it things with them about what they went through. i had concerns about whether they had open dialogue with the communities of the city, whether they had contact with all possible candidates. they did a very thoroughly vetted process. once i was satisfied with that, i proceeded to look to the recommendations they had. i interviewed each won twice. -- each one twice. focused solely on who was the best. i interviewed groups of people within the work force. they have strong opinions and wanted reflections on what the

chief should be in addition to the commission. i had various people throughout the city tell me. i got tugs on the suit jacket and everyone of these come hall meetings about people that were important to them. a lot of different names surfaced. that all came into play along with my serious look of someone who will continue reforms, making sure we have a dedicated effort to train officers so they would not cross the line. that was another part of my objective. someone i think would not only continue the reforms but present a command presence for the public as well in someone who the public can talk to. a continued to smile. it has nothing to do with

politics as much as people have known chief suhr for a number of years. the critical factors were about what people who knew him by the first name and the kids who knew this captain surh who was there supporting the boys and girls club, the ymca in the community. he did the same thing when he was captain in the mission. his reputation around the police department has been impeccable. his life has been exposed. so has mine. in my last interview, i did tell him that some people may say that you are part of the old boys' network. we have the conversation about what his life has been about. >> he said it is like me.

we had a chance to work with each other. we went back to the years when he was out of uniform and working with the puc as kind of their homeland security. i had a chance to work with greg. he thrust himself into that job so thoroughly. he began to know all of the intricacies of the water system. he knew the groups there. he interacted with the federal state authorities for that. he did a very thorough job. that kind of focus and dedication said to me that he can take care of the changes needed in the department, make the commitment, and see it through. those were the final decision makers for me, how he would continue making the change.

i have said over and over that he is the guy who will change the place from inside out. that is a very different approach. >> the city owes $4.26 billion in promised health care benefits to employees and retirees. you have your own pension reform plan and health care reform plan. there is another one that is tougher. labor groups have a third one. how do you bring these three plans -- how do you bring everybody together on that? what is their incentive to come to the table and agree on anything? >> the biggest incentive i could produce is that all of the proposals we are putting forth

with the labor unions, supervisor elsbernd, and other supervisors we have been keeping in touch with, is that we're having each of our provisions reviewed thoroughly by professional actuary folks that we know. there are third parties as well. warren helmond brought in third parties. we also have the official family of reviewers through our controller's office. there is someone else was during much a political in this. he has people on his staff and people he hired as independent contractors reviewing the actual numbers of what we can save with each proposal. with that kind of expertise, along with keeping close device

from our city attorney -- getting advice from our city attorney on what is legal to do, all of that has been a part of the effort. we have been patiently sharing the information and proposals with union leaders. you will find and i trust that every union even if they are in disagreement with us will not say that they were not included in a very transparent way. this was done with serious effort. you have to reward that effort with a serious response to it. you have to pay attention. paying attention means we will do our best to get to a point where most of us will agree that this is the way out.

city employees and the public need to have this in front of them. nobody here wants to be confused with two or three proposals. you want to be able to ask the questions about whether this will solve it for the long term. we are pushing and i am pushing that this will solve the in the long term. there are certain numbers we have to be at, particularly the contributions current employees must make, including myself. >> will the salaries and pensions be cut? should they be cut? >> that is a separate part from the pension. we have to balance -- we have to have a pension system that pays for itself. we will work on the plan and presented. i predict may be to a half weeks at the most before we have something in front of the board

of supervisors to get the ball rolling. salaries are always being reviewed. we have to have the careful balance between excessive salaries and salaries that will attract the best talent, as well as salaries that provide a living wage for city workers. it is an expensive city. i get paid a lot more than others. i want to make sure that those who work for me are satisfied that they can take care of their personal business with a decent salary and pension as they put the years in. >> another reminder that you are listening to the commonwealth of california radio program. we're talking with ed lee, mayor of san francisco. you mentioned the america's cup is coming. it is coming to san francisco in 2013. it is expected to bring over $1

billion of economic benefit to the city. in exchange for paying $55 million along the waterfront, the developers get rights and a 66-year lease at the peeriers. harvey rose the city could wind up paying more than the original deal said. is that report accurate? is this going to be a good deal long term for san francisco? >> the report has been reviewed by economists on all sides. i do think it is a great deal. it is not only for the historic nature of the event. but people are putting up their own money to help us repair dilapidated structures. one of the reasons why the port is not the maritime operation as much as it used to be is because

the properties are in bad shape. it is very expensive to repair the underwater structures. i say that as a city administrator involved in reviewing the capital plans. we have not fixed because it is too expensive. we have had to rely on private investment, smart investment, to make some of these piers turnaround. the cruise ship terminal is one of the big focuses. we're looking at building a new cruise ship terminal and having it available for the america's cup, the center of it, and being able to use it for generations thereafter. everything we're putting in the long wharf -- and along the worth will last beyond the america's cup events. we're trying to do its smartly.

whether it is transportation, infrastructure investments, we're making sure the structures are there for the benefit of san francisco. we will have it there in between the events as they occur. we are even doing street improvements with the america's cup moneys. those investments will obviously help with transporting people around when there is no event as all. >> it could be a good deal for the city long term and not just the developers. >> absolutely. those improvements will not silvio berlusconi for this event. they will be for the permanent use for everybody. >> as the economy creates more homeless folks, what more can be done to divert them off the streets and into housing and job training? >> if i could answer that easily.

one of the reasons i came to work enthusiastically with the former mayor is that i truly believe in the care not cash approach to ending homelessness. the solution is permanent supportive is in. we're already putting up the housing but not of the pace we would like because of the economy. that will continue to be the target and focus of the true answer to the challenge of homelessness>> the more you wile individuals changing their lives. in doing so, we continue to have a very active human services agency on the ground, and getting them in the shelters that we have and trying to operate programs like project

homeless connect and others where we bring tremendous amounts of volunteer support. the hope is to engage people to make better decisions. you can't force people. we have to persuade them to do so. we can at least strongly encourage people cannot lay down on the streets. we have the city and live ordnance. they are already starting to get the warnings. they are bringing people to pay attention to this. we are offering services to people. we're doing in the san francisco way, eventually we have to get way, eventually we have to get people into situations like