has your mayor and also to join this distinguished panel of people utilizing the funding opportunities from the gates foundation, working with our school district as well as our community college, and to talk with you today about my own personal experience related to college. just last month, i had a very special thing happened to me -- happened to me. somebody that i got acquainted with some number of years ago came to visit me in the mayor's office, flow all the way out from brunswick, maine. this gentleman was a high-school student that i had recruited when i was in college to be a student at the top were bound program that i was counseling at during the summers when i was in college -- at the upward bound program i was counseling at.

i had an interest in that program because of the opportunities that i was lucky to have, being able to go on a full ride to a college all the way across the united states. i was born and raised in seattle, and this little college had recruited me. it was funny at the time because they were recruiting on the west coast, looking at me. obviously, i was asian, and they were suggesting that maybe my strengths were in math and science, so they gave me a full ride, thinking i was going to do math and science because i am asian. [laughter] after the first year where i knew i could do math and science because that was kind of easy for me, i decided i was not going to go that route. i change my career, and i had an opportunity to do that because i had a great institution to work from. in the summers, i stayed on the

campus. three of the four summers, i stayed on the college campus because i really like working in the upward bound program where we were talking to high school kids, particularly low-income high school kids from indian reservations in northern maine, from the french-canadian border. a lot of kids were minority kids, and they never had a chance for anyone to speak to them about what it was to be in college and what it was to be even in the very expensive private college. one of those students who i went back to his house in northern maine one summer and talk to his parents -- talks to his parents -- he was a kid with five siblings. his mother and father were saying they could not afford for him to go to college. that was not in his future. it was my opportunity to speak with the mother and father to

say, "give the kid a chance." their family was potato farmers. they were planting potatoes their whole lives. generations of that. if they got a job, their job was car mechanic or working in a restaurant. i worked with this kid, and he said i had to talk to his parents. i sat down, talk with his father -- talks -- talked with his father. he asked why i would want him to send his kid to college where he needs money and needs to be able to have a life of his own -- what does college have to do with that? i said that i was going somewhere, and i was going to be places and my mind was open, and i think college is a good opportunity. after that meeting and after i tried to make an impression on the parents that it was the

right choice to allow his son to make that choice, that father actually told the sun -- son that college was not for him. i had long hair. he said i was not even from the state, trying to convince him about a better life. an arrogant kid, does not know what our lives are -- an urban kid. but the son i talked to said he made his own choice. he said he was convinced that it was something that he wanted to pay attention to end date. he flew out last month to visit me when he found out i was mayor of san francisco, and he came in to my office just to thank me after 25 years. i had not seen this guy in 25

years. to say thank you. from those programs and the values instilled in me, like, out of -- he out of the five kids in this family was the first to graduate from college. his older brother and sister were still working for the car dealership. he got a great job and can afford to fly out to san francisco to visit because he has that kind of income and has a family. his younger brother and sister also went to college. they have lives that are better because of college. so i want to share that with you because it is unique in so many ways, but it is a personal story for me, too, because i was able to impact somebody that i did not know what their lives would be about. we all talk just about the college experience and what that means. all of you have in front of you an opportunity that will allow

you to make choices. the worst life that people have in san francisco that i have known are when you do not have a choice in what you want to do or be, that you do not give yourself an opportunity to make a choice. the best lives are reflected in people who have choices to make, and i believe that when you have a college education and when you complete that, your choices will be numerous about what you want to do. how many of you tweet right now? how many of you use twitter? wouldn't you like an opportunity to work for that company? that product is made and engineered in san francisco. when i talk to the owners of twitter to convince them to stay in san francisco, i said i want

those 3000 new jobs that they are going to bring to san francisco in the next two years. i want you to have an opportunity, those of you would like to have an opportunity to work for a company like twitter to be here because they will recruit from san francisco, but they will not recruit high school kids. they will not recruit people without degrees. for that recruitment. while i do that, i'm talking to you here today. do the smart thing. give yourselves a choice. the choices you have in front of you are choices you will make for yourself. you will have a lot of pressures that prevent you, whether it might even be in the case of the upward bound kid, inherit the says you have to make money now, or it might be a family member that says you cannot afford to go to college, or friends that ask what college is all about. you have to think for that mode for yourself -- for that moment

for yourself. "can i make better choices?" i wanted to share that with you. i wanted to share with you that the students we talked to earlier today that now i get to make choices and a lot. every single day, i am making choices and decisions, but it is no longer decisions about myself. in making choices and decisions that affect hundreds of thousands of other lives, and i share this moment with you because i care about what you are about to do and the things you are about to experience. college is wonderful. it is those years when you start thinking about what you want to do, what you are all about, how you melt your culture and experience, how you give yourself an opportunity to change your career. does not even have to be what it is today. you might want to find out extra disciplines. the greatest jobs i have had is

when i bring a different experience in. i might have been good in math and science when i started, but people wanted me to become a public servant because i had all these other experiences. being director of public works, being a city administrator, being the director of purchasing, director of the human rights commission, and being an attorney that actually sued the city before our work for it. i did not like the city when i started working for it, but i changed. i changed because i knew that i could be responsible for hundreds of other lives and make sure that their lives were improved by the work that i do in city government. you have an opportunity to improve your life, give yourself the foundation, get that college degree, get focused, and the best job is a job where you can help other people change their lives for the positive. thank you very much. [applause]

>> thank you. now it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the deputy superintendent of san francisco unified school district. let's give him a warm welcome. [applause] >> all right, is the class of 2011 in the house? [applause] that was pretty weak. let's try it again. class of 2011, are you in the house? [applause] all right, that is better. that is what i'm talking about. i'm just going to say few remarks, and then we have a video. our superintendent could not be here today, but he recorded a video he wanted you to see. before i do that, being in the room full of san francisco unified school district students, you are my peeps.

this is what it is all about. i want you to look at everyone onstage today and think about the words of the chancellor, our mayor, and think about you have not heard from everybody up here. i want you to think about teachers and administrators and support staff at your school. every one of those folks has lived every reason that you have for not going to college. they have lived it. yet, they have gone to college. the message here today is you can go to college, and you need to go to college, and i will tell you why. when the mayor says that twitter wants to hire people that live in san francisco, he is absolutely right. but he does not -- they are not going to hire folks that do not have a college degree. if you think you cannot do it, you can do it. i should not be doing what i am doing because i am the son of a sheet metal worker here that is

what my dad did. i should not have gone to college, but i did, and i am no smarter than many of you. in fact, i will work for many of you one day, i bet. what if i told you right now that i would give you $1 million? how many of you are up for that? we are not going to give it to you just yet. there is always a catch. here is the catch -- the difference in a lifetime of earnings between someone who gets a high-school diploma and gets an advanced college degree is about one -- $1 million. you may think that right now, you have to work, do not have time for college. you will earn $1 million more over the course of your lifetime -- we all have to work. by going to college. what i want you to think about today is the very first day of that million dollar pay check. right? we are going to get paid.

i want to thank you for being here today. all the staff from the school district here, all the staff from city college, everybody from the mayor's office, thank you for making this day possible. i want you to take advantage, fill out those forms. i want you to know what is going to take to go to college because we want you to go to college. i would like to introduce two very impressive gentlemen who have also lived very impressive reasons not to go to college. so we are going to all step offstage so you can see this video. enjoy the rest of the day. [applause] >> hello, i am a graduate of the ball high school and and a current student at city college.

>> i and the superintendent of san francisco unified school district, and we are here today to here todayfrisco -- to talk about frisco day and some of the opportunities you need to take advantage of to go to college. >> i understand you were the first in your family to go to college? >> my parents did not have a formal education. they migrated to the united states. my dad had only an eighth-grade education. my mom only finished elementary school. they did not know much about college. it was not like they could really help us with it. we were lucky we have counselors and different people who attacked us on the shoulder and asked if we ever thought about going to college or doing something. that was the first time we ever thought about it. we did not know what you had to do, and luckily, these people believed in us more than we believed ourselves. this woman said we were going to make it, we were going to be successful. it has never been easy because

life threw us a lot of challenges. i understand you have had some troubles in terms of making a decision of having a family and then having to go back to work and still go to school. how is that working out for you? >> school has never been easy for me. it has never been my strong suit, to be completely honest. i also had to work while i was going to high school to try to support my family. i had a ton of excuses, and i certainly did use them, but now, i am at a different stage in life. i also have a daughter who just turned two. i need to get a degree i noted to get the job i want in order to provide and set that example for her. the rest of my family and community. i am trying to take advantage of the resources that exist, connecting with mentor's, being involved in programs that connect you with mentors.

counseling. you are with a group of students for a year, so you get to build a sense of community, help each other out, keep tabs on each other, making sure we are moving forward and doing what we have to do. there are a lot of programs where you go in and see somebody who looks like you, and is also a student and will help you learn the ropes to get where you need to get. things like the latino service network. tons of tutoring for anything that you might be facing. taking advantage of what is out there is something that has really been helpful to me. and not being shy to ask questions and ask for help when i needed is one of the biggest things -- when i need it is one of the biggest things that i am working on now. >> here is an opportunity to not use those as excuses because we all have more than enough

excuses of why we cannot do things. of course you can do this. if you are undocumented, you can still go to college. if you do not have money, you can still go to college. there are plenty of people to give you ideas for financial aid, how to take loans out, whatever. but do not use that as an excuse to prevent you from going on with the rest of your life an>>f you to take advantage of all the fr the upboundisc -- all the opportunities of frisco day. really take advantage, and i will be there at city college, so talk to me as well. >> we are all there to support each other. for those friends of yours that did not show up, please pass the word on. the job for all of us is to raise everybody up. that is not just about you or me or him. it is about everybody and all the young people who have such

potential. we get everybody to go to college, think what kind of world we could live in. a lot smarter world where people are going to be better to solve the problems that my generation messed up on, but it is your turn now. step up and get here and take advantage, and above all, have a great time and meet a lot of new people. thanks. [applause]

>> the evening and welcome to this evening's meeting of the commonwealth club of california. you can find this on the internet at commonwealthc lub.org. you can read us online at sf gate.com. now it is my pleasure to introduce our special guest, mayor ed lee. a few months ago, if you mentioned his name, they responded with the question -- "who the hell is ed lee?" unless you're connected to san francisco politics, you would not know he served four mayor's and he had very powerful friends like former mayor willie brown

san francisco's often fractured board of supervisors could not agree on at the mayor, then they agreed on the compromise -- ed lee. the board approved him ten to one, and they do not approve of anything ten to one. who is he? his mother was a seamstress. his father died when he was 10. he was so poor, he and his siblings would scrounged around in the basement for something to give each other for christmas. in one box, there would be an old shoe. in another one, a shoelace. he won a scholarship to bottling college in bowdoin college in

maine. he returned to the bay area to attend ucla berkeley law school, before working for the city government, first as an investigator in the whistle- blowers department, and a few decades after california passed laws forbidding agents from -- asians from owning land, he became the first chinese- american mayor. now his mustache has its own twitter feed. i feel badly for the audience, because they can only hear the mustache. it is truly awesome up close. his predecessor, gavin newsom, was famous for the amount of here joe he used. please welcome mayor ed lee. [applause]

mayor lee: thank you. should i stand up here, joe? is this right. ok. thank you out, everybody. at it is my pleasure to be here, to share with you what it has been like for the first quarter, maybe a third of this year, but also to begin by telling you this is a very unique city. and i continue to be so enthralled by the wonderful people who live here, that work here, even though i finished the ninth of tin budget town hall meetings, numerous meetings with community-based agencies, inviting people who have not been there for years, as they tell me. i am hearing so many stories, stories about white people came to san francisco.

and just -- about why people came to san francisco. and just so many stories about whether or not their dreams or conditions were fulfilled, or they are here working were living with their families or they are trying to conduct business here. it has been wonderful. a lot of people have been asking -- i really -- to i really enjoy it? the word " julyenjoy -- "enjoy" is a little strong. i set out on a commitment that i would do this for a year. i made a commitment i would try my best to unify the city and then set out to do at least five priorities. at least one of them has been fully accomplished, but the five priorities were budget, balancing the city's budget. we still have a $306 million

gap. pension reform, which i will talk about later. we have the america's cup, getting that off the ground. then we have my and placement of local hire and what that means for the city. and finally, i was thrust upon with the obligation to make sure that i selected a police chief, not a temporary police chief. a chief that will carry forth what i consider to be one of the most important things in this city, to secure the public safety of the great city of san francisco. i think i have done that, with the selection and now the appointment of the chief. so many people have come up to me and clearly you expected a chief who had spent 30 years in his life, but i did not realize how many people he has really known in every part of this

community. they come up and they thank us for making that wonderful decision. you will see right off the that, if he will be a great partner to make sure our police force and all the public agency facilities work together and we produce a higher level of public safety in the new year. i set out for a number of these objectives to perform those things in the most non-political way and to give it my full, 150% attention. that means to not be distracted by other offices or what i would be willing to do. today, i will tell you i will be perfectly happy to be perhaps one of the first mayor's that ever comes back to his city job, the job i got paid a lot more for. but also, the job i was

appointed to, city administrator, because that has been wonderful for me, to administer the affairs of a great city, and to know it is made up not only of numerous, wonderful neighborhoods, not only a high number of attractive commercial and residential corridors, but also the city i have come to appreciate even more as mayor, a city that is international in stature. one that resonates with so many people across the world. it is about what we represent. and that representation is not easy to explain at times,, but it begins with a very prominent after it, and that is because our city is so diverse. i am a product of that. i will continue to make sure the

doors are open to anyone who wants to serve this great city, anyone who wants to show their love for it. i will continue doing that. it is because of its international stature, our city of san francisco enjoys being the attraction for the whole bay area. when companies or visitors are deciding where they want to spend their money or make an investment or have a good time, they will think of san francisco in some any positive way is because we have allowed ourselves to evolve as an international city. that is so important. so many cities are trying to protect their coffers and investments, to be the city that they are. i want to continue being the city that people hoped for us today, to put a positive aspect of hope in the city. that means today and it will mean for some time that my administration reflects a strong effort to create and

sustain jobs for everyone. if i have learned anything in my visits throughout the city it is that everybody wants to get a job. they want to be here. they want to sustain themselves year. they know how expensive it is. i know how expensive is. i made one of the biggest, most nervous financial commitments buying a house here in my whole life here that was when mayor willie brown ordered me that if i wanted this job, i had to move into the city. i bought a couple of times, because finding a 3-bedroom house in the city was an enormous task. i did it well my kids were jumping up and down on the bed, saying "we are going to disneyland. we are going to disneyland." because their vision of san francisco was a place of play, a place where their eyes are open everywhere they go, they can get the culture and the arts, all

the wonderful things we have invested in that make this city successful. jobs continue to be the thing i am trying to do in this city. it will resonate in all the decisions i make. it is the responsible thing to do for any major city now. whether or not we consider ourselves a local city, our regional city, an international city, it is job creation that makes the city run well. for all of us here, i know you have great hope that the city will be able to have decent jobs here that can maintain, that they can spend a good amount of their careers in, and that is why i spend a lot of time with chief adviser kim