board of supervisors. as long as they publicly notice it, they could call a meeting every day until january 3. >> meanwhile, several names were mentioned as potential candidates to be interim mayor. >> it was fascinating to watch the trial balloon go up. people's name would be floated for a week. there was a flavor of the week. david campos. former mayor art agnos was floated as a potential in term mayor. so was sheriff mike hennessey. so was the chair of the public utilities commission. current state senator mark lino. current senator leland yee. >> there were reports in the newspaper about various board members being nominated. we were concerned about how the conflict of interest laws would apply to them. very specifically for foreign issues. perhaps there would be six board members who would be not able to

bridge as a paid in a successor mayor selection and appointment process. we would lose quorum. we have to contemplate how we would then bring back quorum. i went to bed every night with it on my mind. i woke up with every morning. >> time was running out. there were no more meetings scheduled in november due to the holidays, and the board did not meet again until december 7. san francisco citizens again waited on the mayoral selection. >> we want someone who has the greater good of the people of san francisco in mind, not just business owners. >> i am here today basically to urge you to select an interim mayor who will prioritize our nonprofit sector coming here in san francisco. >> supervisor daly once again called for a discussion of mayoral character polities and possible nominations. >> it would be a good idea to

try this mechanism out and see how it works. >> the daily would again be disappointed. supervisor maxwell motion for the question to be tabled until next week. >> the motion to continue passes. >> they did not want to push the envelope and vote until they had it in the bag, and no one was able to get all that in the bag, so without that, people were afraid to take the vote. if he took it and your friend was not picked, and of story. >> for maxwell bought determination to delay the voting, one thing she wanted to do was to make sure she could find a consensus candidate. >> the next week in december, the board met again for the last in the meeting of the board. still without a mayor selected or even nominations made. time was running out on the current board, but december 14 seemed like a rerun of december

7, with supervisor maxwell again making a motion to continue to the last board meeting in early january. >> colleagues, i ask that we continue this item. i think we have three weeks to have somebody floating out there for that amount of time is not going to be to our best interest. it will give us an opportunity to really think about, in the next few weeks, what is ahead of us. it allows the board to step back and take a breath and wait this heavy decision that we were just about ready to make. >> there was no one lined up. that was one of the most fascinating and frustrating things about the process. no one knew what was going to happen. everyone was asking. it was amazing. do you know what is going on, do you know who has the upper hand?

>> after the holidays, and jerry brown was sworn in as cal.'s next governor. but the tenant gov. elect gavin newsom played his delight card and was not sworn in. some saw humor in in his delight. >> i am proud, from your the tenant governorship, if and when it begins -- >> others disagreed with the decision. i think he should have been sworn in on monday. that seems to be in the spirit of the state of constitution of california. >> the next day, the board had one last chance to nominate their twice for interim mayor on january 4. >> when the board finally got around to actually nominating people for, and taking up the issue of inter mayorship, the first thing people should know is it was late at night. the board really put this off as

light as they could. people were tired and cranky. that is the first thing people should know about this meeting. >> they said they would take nominations according to who was on the roster first. so it became a game of jeopardy where the question was, who could press the button first? then it became this sort of strategy. >> having run out of time, board members began the first round of nominations. >> i would nominate former mayor art agnos. >> current city administrator ed lee. >> everyone is expecting hennessey to have the sixth vote. >> i would like to request a 20- minute recess. >> perhaps an explanation? >> i would like a recess. that is my explanation. >> colleague, can do that

without objection? >> he took sophie maxwell and they started walking down the hall, across the hall to room 200, the mayor's office. when it came down to it, bevan dufty said, after talking to the mayor, newsom made an argument as to why edwin lee should have the job. >> supervisor daly, having witnessed several progressives vote for a moderate saw the progress of dreams away. >> we ostensibly had a majority on the board of supervisors. we had an opportunity and we made the biggest fumble in san francisco political history. >> once it became clear that ed lee had the votes to win, nobody wanted to pull the trigger. so they stopped the meeting -- at midnight -- and decided to have another meeting that friday. at the end of the day, so many

people had been put up for consideration, and here is the one person that had not and he ends up being the person who the board ends up with. that is a huge shock. >> when the board finally made their appointment, i was joyful because i thought it would be much more difficult. >> supervisors avalos and, thus ask that the meeting be recessed until friday to allow for a meeting with ed lee. >> i have not had a chance to talk to ed lee, any more than him, to my office and telling me that he was not interested in doing it. that was my last conversation with him. ed lee is currently in china. i would like to see if i can have a conversation with him before we make any kind of determination. >> the current board had run its term. they return for one last meeting to begin -- finish what they began on tuesday, nominating ed

lee. >> i will support mr. lee. >> it is for those reasons i will be supporting mr. lee's nomination. the reason why i wholeheartedly support ed lee is because he is a qualified person and he is the right person to lead san francisco. >> we have engaged in an orderly transition of leadership. this is what separates us, as a democratic society, from other less democratic societies. and i am so proud of us for what we are about to do today. so with that, colleagues, thank you for being part of this historic moment. >> the supervisor campos? there are 10 ayes, one no. [applause] >> the motion for edwin lee passes. [applause] >> you are talking to one of the happiest people in san

francisco. this was an extraordinary an historic vote. but it was symbolic. remember, the new board of supervisors who convenes tomorrow will make the actual decision on who the next mayor will be. >> everybody came down to ed lee with the expectation that it will be done in the most intellectually honest way and in a way that role and order is respected. i think we discussed a few nominations and came down to this one by a common denominator. >> i had a sense of urgency because i did not want to see anyone being acting mayor in the presence of the board of supervisors. that is not the kind of transition i talked about. we need to have a transition --

legislative branch separate from the executive branch of san francisco. that is the best way to do our work. people would not like the situation of having an acting mayor and president of the board of supervisors. >> now the dominoes in this chain of political events were falling day-by-day. the next day, january 8, new board members were sworn in. >> congratulations. [applause] >> and on monday, gavin newsom was finally sworn in as lieutenant governor of california. >> the duties upon which i am about to enter. [applause] >> the very next day, january 11, the new board of supervisors met for the first time, with the historic first decision of their

new term. >> item 3 is a motion to ratify the appointment of a successor mayor due to the occurrence of a vacancy in the offense of a mayor expiring january 8, 2012. >> i am hoping for is, as we look forward to the confirmation of mr. lee, that we will also, leaving behind the kind of tactics that were used last week, that i thought really made the process feel more clumsy than it should have been. >> this is ed lee's day. i have said a lot about my perspective of this man who comes from the community, who is rooted in our community, who has a tremendous breath and death of city experience. colleagues, at this time, i hope and ask that we unanimously vote for ed lee to be our next mayor. >> supervisor campos? president to? supervisor chu?

supervisor colon? supervisor elsbernd? there are 11 ayes. the motion is approved a [applause] . >> colleagues, i am going to move that we recessed the meeting and we conduct the swearing in ceremony of the new mayor in the rotunda of city hall. [applause] >> so ended one of the greatest challenges the board of supervisors has ever faced, resulting in the first interim mayor in san francisco in 32 years. >> we had a real sense of belief when the full board made the final appointment to successor mayor. we thought there were some and gaps in our knowledge about how to appoint a successor mayor. by the time it was actually

done, it seemed almost easy, but it was not, to be honest. we had planned for different types of variables to occur, and none of that actually happened. no conflict of interest laws came into play, no inquiry issues. >> i thought they did a good job, actually, trying to figure out something that had very little precedent in our city's history, something that was very important. >> angela and her staff did an extremely professional job. she was on the hot seat, under a tremendous amount of pressure. i did not see a lot of the back room arm-twisting, hair pulling, chest pounding that was going on, the pressure she was under, but when she walked out into the board chamber, when she walked into the hallway and the reporters were chasing after her, she was precise and professional. >> in the end, there were some questions about the charter of

san francisco. >> our charter spells out a formal process, but lee is pretty silent on that application process. >> this has happened in 32 years, but i think we need some better certainty on how we deal with this decision of succession. >> the charter has worked several times during times of vacancies like this. it certainly worked during aftermath of mayor mosconi and harvey milk. >> so we may be seeing more of these successor issues coming up, certainly something we do not want to legislate. i hope that we can trust people to be grown up about it, but if that is not the case, we can spell that out. >> going through the first time with little knowledge and information was difficult. now that we have got our record of how to do this, i think the next clerk and the city will be much informed with having our process and having our archives to look too.

>> and that is how san francisco government worked out the kinks, twists and turns, bombs in the road, to select its new interim mayor, ed lee. san francisco's first asian- american mayor. >> this has been an unprecedented and historic transition of power here in san francisco. i am so happy the board of supervisors came together to select an outstanding choice along many outstanding candidates to lead us over the next several years. >> over the past several months when this issue has come up, it had been agonizing. the board has been put into a difficult situation. there are a lot of differences of opinion on how to run the city, how to mass make a decision, who should be in place, 11 people to agree on that is a challenging thing. i think we have done the best we can do in the process, considering the difference of opinions. >> the people of san francisco can now choose their mayor, the

direction they want to go. that is why this decision was so appropriate. >> the other big shock is that the moderates seem to have won this round. people thought, progressives have themselves on the board. there is no reason that they will not get together and take a noted leader who is a progressive to be interim mayor, and then stayed there for another term. the great thing about being in term mayor is to get to run as an incumbent. the fact that the progressives could not get together to get somebody into office as interim mayor in their own self-interest was very surprising for a lot of us. >> what happened in the last month in city hall was an incredible show of democracy that was part policy, part politics, and it all came together, and more than anything -- not just from a reporter's perspective, often was this? but there was a public interest as well on what was going on in san francisco government. we take it for granted a law

that there is a city government here. this was something that brought people together. you heard people talking about it at the cafes, park playground, people who do not always pay attention. in that $0.10, it was the best thing we could have done for city government, even though it was a little bit messy. it was a lot of fun and an eye opener. it got people interested again.

$40,000 of this will go to 20 existing businesses. it's this is like a dragon

house. -- businesses like dragon house. [applause] others that have been identified. i want to thank ellen and debt been played -- that the little. that is right. al harris and others that have worked in the exocet ashcelsiorn group for so long so that we can make a difference. we want these grievance to make a ground level difference. that is why paying attention to everyone here. it is a struggle of a lot of our commercial corridors right now, so that is why the work we have been doing in mid-market, the experience we are bringing out there with the arts programs and business loans we want to do right here to help out as well. i also want to thank mary and

flemings from family connections. thank you for being here. -- maryann flemings. i also want to thank beth rubenstein from out of sight. thank you. you are in our collaboration. you also know as well as we do before we do anything, we have to work with existing business in people already out here. that is why you have been such an instrumental part, because if we do things right it is because we listen first. they did not want us here to invest $50,000 in one shop that may not make a difference. we spread that out to everybody. everybody feels the city is paying attention. i think that is why we're doing it well here. i also want to think marcihank . the corporations out here guide

us as to what we can do better. i know you've been out here with the community challenge grant doing all of the small business improvement stuff. we're just the beginning. $40,000 in the grants and for the businesses will help go along way. we're making our business mark with llamas cafmama's cafe. they have been successful in mid-market on clemens. and irving streets and all around. when you create these park? klets people come out and use the sidewalk and a more productive way. using our sidewalks in the most creative way, that is how we get more positive attention on to these areas. i am gl's cafe

create a more exciting sidewalk in these areas. these are things we can do in all of our commercial corridors so the businesses cannot only sustain themselves, they can create local jobs to sustain all of our neighborhoods, and that is how we are creating my vision for the rest of the city. we have to work to revitalize every part of our neighborhood. that is how we work together, and i am one to continue doing that and bringing out the expertise we have at city hall. get them out to neighborhood out here. we will walk these corridors with each of the elected officials so they know we're working together, and we're going to keep city hall in communicating with every one of our neighbors. thank you very much. amy, think you for your great work out here, and thank you for everyone joining us together. -- thank you for your great work

out here. >> thank you. gardner speaker iour next speaka gilete. it is through the mayor's office, the cities targeted effort to improve commercial districts, particularly in this more struggling area. the idea of the door front cleaning project, the beautification project is really just additional go on a lot of projects that have been done over the years, really exciting ones, including the good will tower, which you can see it. that was restoration that was a partnership between our office and the excelsior action group. >> hi, i am a member of excelsior active group's steering committee, co-chaired

fort excelsior beautification. of the excelsior action group mission is to revitalize excelsior corridor. these funds, which support the local merchants, will go along way to enhancing the vitality and appearance of the excelsior corridor. we welcome the opportunity to partner with local merchants on behalf of the excelsior. with those of you -- for those of you not familiar, we are a community action group that was founded in 2002. one event we sponsor each year is that the excelsior music and arts festival. we celebrated our ninth anniversary last sunday, and we had a great festival. it was a great community event that celebrated diversity through music, art, and food. excelsior action groups to support local merchants. this past year excelsior action group completed 10 murals,

partnering with local merchants and artists that were installed with lighting. it does not only beautified the corridor, but also serve to make it safe at night. we are also engaged in a community process to recondition the overpass near roll over 2mu. excelsior action group will continue to work together with our community to identify ways we can support local merchants, attract new businesses coming in beautify the corridor. we know this funding will help leverage other much-needed resources and support for the excelsior. we would also like to thinake this opportunity to thank supervisor avalos.

we would be remiss in not acknowledging our all outgoing director, ellen googvenele. , who has demonstrated a real investment in making sure the project led by excelsior action group has the input of excelsior residence. we look forward to partnering with out of sight on the project, and we know this public space will benefit all. i would like to take this opportunity to introduce the new manager of excelsior action group, nicole. [applause] nicole is a san francisco native and a native of the excelsior district. she graduated from ucla with a degree in international development and in our mental systems. she has worked with multiple bay area's small businesses on environmental business development, as well as

construction management. her dedication to the community where she grew up will be the heart of her upcoming effort with the excelsior action group, and thank you so very much. [laughter] [applause] [applause] >> next, we would hear from the owner of the business hosted the event, jong lo. >> hello, everyone. first of all, thank you to everyone for showing up. thank you for the mayor being here. it kills your action group are fantastic. dragon house has been in san francisco for over 15 years. we've been located in excelsior my fourth year. anall of these nice gardens basically put down by the excelsior action group. they are awesome. i am hoping to see them keeping the funding from the city, keep