people, to save their faith come at and energy of the criminal- justice system, for those that are truly dangerous. we must be certain people committing rapes, murders, and other violent and serious offenses are series brought to justice and prevented from harming others. you have my commitment that i will approach our criminal justice system with a surgical component. we have an incredible opportunity to do things differently, here in san francisco, and to create a model for the state and beyond. we have to understand most folks involved in crime will eventually come home. we have to recognize them as long-term members of our community, hold them accountable, but for that -- provide them and a real chance to become reintegrated. we have to prioritize in a good education, decent jobs, fair

wages, safe housing and communities. without this building blocks, no criminal justice system will ever succeed. and public safety is not about to process, not just about due process in a court room. it is also about due process in life. only this attitude shift will get us to real public safety. and being the d a is also being part of the community. i will not sit and wait for bad things to happen to people. i will into the pit problems and intervene. we all know a town in the classroom is less likely to end up in a court room as a defendant or rectum. we know people exposed to violence are more likely to be victims and perpetrators of violence. identifying those risks and getting them services early as

the best way to reduce victimization and increased public safety. this is not something that i commit to lightly. this is not just about the courtroom, but it is also about the classroom. i am committed to shutting down the school to prison pipeline that we have perpetuated for too many years in to many urban centers, including our own. we need to prevent children from ever entering the juvenile justice system. we will be in the classrooms working with young people, bringing resources to them, as we are now doing in burton high- school with a program we created for students having difficulty making a transition. we are seeing a truant students improve their attendance. this is meaningful for crime rates, but more importantly, these numbers are meaningful to

the young person, their family, and our community. together with the school district and common sense media, we are helping young people understand what it means to be good citizens, informing them of the dangers of cyber bullying, and working with this new medium. this program will help young people to stay engaged in their education and away from our jails and prisons. also, i recognize we must continue to engage our community, and often, come to the hall of justice. every victim of a crime should be helped. to be sure that they are held, we have moved our offices into the community. people can now meet with us in chinatown, the mission, and bayview. by the end of this year, they will be able to do so in any other part of the city. to a woman struggling to take care of her children and

preventing them from her abusive husband, it is monumental to be able to walk down the street to a safe and familiar pleas to ask for help. [applause] similarly, to a young person fearful that if they cooperate with law enforcement, our may come to them, this community resources and not able. communities should be able to say what crimes they care most about and be part of resolving them. our neighborhood courts and prosecutors program helped to resolve cases that do not require the full muscle of the criminal justice system, and where the community input is critical. we have volunteer mediators that are vested in the community and are trained by us to help solve cases from public intoxication to graffiti to other low-level offenses. these people know what matters most to their communities and

have a great impact on the individuals brought before them. these cases are handled for an apartment $300, compared to the $1,400 it would cost to hear the case in the courtroom. this is cheaper, and as we are seeing, more effective. cases are heard within a month. -- within a week. the resolution helps everyone recover from the incident and puts the offender on the right path. thus far, we have seen 400 of these cases. by the end of this year, we will be to run the city. in conclusion, it is such an exceptional honor for me to serve the city and county of san francisco. it is committed to members like you that makes san francisco the greatest city in the country. here in the mission district, i am reminded of the neighborhood i grew up and and the amazing journey my life has taken me.

from an immigrant kid who dropped out of school to be the district attorney in the greatest city in the world. i am humbled and honored to be here with you today. my commitment to you is to tackle large challenges in the courtroom, classroom, and community. together, we are on our way to making san francisco the safest big city in america. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome father donald godfrey.

>> let us pray. god, our compassion and justice, on this joyful occasion of this swearing in of george gascon, we ask you to bless the george, his wife, family, and wrens. empower the district attorney with the gifts of an ever deeper desire for truth, fairness, justice, equality, strength, professionalism, and integrity, so as to serve all of us, the people of our city of st. francis better. whenever our socio-economic background, culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, a belief system order religious

tradition. bless his staff and all that work alongside him in his important mission for our common good. bless him with comfort and easy answers. bless him with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so he will work for restorative justice, always remembering those without a voice or power in our society. to this end, blessed george with the foolishness to think that he can make a difference in this world so that he will do the things that others will tell him cannot be done. george, correct my spanish afterwards, please. [speaking spanish]

amen. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the san francisco bay men's chorus. ♪

♪

[applause] >> this is holly lee knox. there are some proud pet owners in san francisco and they have brought all their pets here to strut their stuff. >> it's an annual event that we've had. this is our 18th year. we bring in rescue groupers, vendors, supporters, lots and lots of animals. it's a proud day for us and for

the animals of san francisco. >> the costume contest is really fun. people get really creative. it's a really fun event. people go all out, create costumes, buy costumes, whatever it is. but there's some really fun ones. >> we're just celebrating the pets and just their companionship and how they are invaluable. so everybody's having fun. >> we're the city's open door shelter. that means we take in every animal that comes through our door regardless of age, condition, species, everything in the city comes through us that is in need. >> animal care control, it is such an important agency and is very understaffed, has very few

resources. but we make animals don't have a home, that we get them a home and that we don't put the animals to sleep, that we're able to adopt them out. >> we have a huge number of volunteers who come in and they will walk our dogs, socialize our animals, play with cats, play with them, bring them to adoption events today. >> i volunteer with the animal control center and i do that every week. >> we're in an organization called friends of a.c.c. with that organization, you can donate money if you don't have time. if you do have time, you can come down to the shelter and volunteer to actually have one-on-one time with the animals. if you're like me and you don't have time to give to an animal, if you actually have one of your own, you can get your fix on the weekends, come in and pet them

and love them and it's great. >> this has been pet pride 2011 brought to you by san francisco animal care and control. to find out more, visit them on the web at sfgov >> i am the executive director of the san francisco film commission, and really wonderful to have you all here tonight. it is a great turn out. nice to see you all here. you can't hear me. sorry. can we turn up the volume on that? thank you. i really want to thank you all for coming tonight. it's a great turn-out. i want to thank our commissioners for coming tonight. they are instrumental in having this be what it is. without their endorsement, about wouldn't have had it. marlene, one of our commissioners is here. if you could say hello. thank you for coming tonight. we appreciate it. [applause]

i am grateful to have the honor to introduce a very special guest tonight. we have our newly elected mayor, ed lee, joining us tonight and introducing the film collective. [applause] and without his support this woot not be possible -- would not be possible. he is a big backer to filming in the city. we are thankful for your support, and thank you very much. we are very excited that you are going to be our mayor for the next four years, and we intend to keep the momentum going of the film commission under your leadership. please welcome mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you. good evening, everyone. we are in a celebration mode. so before i begin, i want to make sure you know it is suzanna's birthday yesterday. i want to celebrate our

wonderful director. [applause] >> we won't talk age. we will just talk celebration. but i want to congratulate her. i want to congratulate the san francisco film commission for starting this wonderful collective in the middle of our tenderloin in our city. i have had a chance to work with her briefly as the city administrator and got excited about her new directorship still and things that gavinned talk todd me about. we need to get back to the wonderful film history we have in the city. that is one of those things i want to make sure we do, to resurge that ever. so i am going to be a big supporter of the film industry and particularly this type of innovation here, this thing baitor where you have independent film makers and documentaries coming together.

the city can come together here, and we have helped to find space and worked with a land leonard named craig. is craig here tonight? if anybody says he is craig, we thank him because he has given us a great deal here. and also doing it in a way in which it compliments the district here in the tenderloin. i want to thank the v.b.d. are you here? where did you go? >> here. [applause] >> ok, thank you. i am excited about revising and resources and making sure we support our independent film makers, our documentary film makers. we have a lot to talk about. i am also excited about some of the ideas that have already been on the books. but now that we have the space,

we have a great -- production crews have already started here. i understand there is pot luck productions. cob great -- congratulations for being here. [applause] >> there is stampede productions here. >> [applause] >> there is ecopoise here. [applause] >> and then there is a production company, and i will have to admit to you when i heard this name, i thought they were engaged in horror films. scary cow. [applause] >> having learned what they do, and what their reward system is and how they incentivize by rewarding the great initiatives that some of the film has, and when their popularity grows, they get rewarded to get their next film. i love that concept. i have an entry for you. it is something called too

legit to quit. [laughter] anyway, i had a little bit of fun watching the producers of that come out as well. that should indicate to you there should be a lot of fun, a lot of information to share with the rest of the world, postseason. one of these days i am sure somebody is going to do something about occupy san francisco. i know that is going to happen. please better view me. i've got some opinions. but we are working closely about that. but there is just -- in san francisco when you're a film maker, i know there are a lot topics you can cover, a lot of lines, a lot of precious stories. this is a hot bed for opinions, for postseason and for film making. and i want to make sure that that story-telling, that ability to show the postseason, the ability to educate our world and our own communities

thrives and success in our great city of san francisco. and that we are also an international city. so that my hope is that when these offices are filled and the real energy of this innovation and spirit that is already reflected here, when these production companies find their gems to produce, that you get international attention. because these stories probably will have international themes to them and will resonate all over the world. congratulations, i will be a background supporter. we will be working with the commission to support it as much as we can, and you may see something in the budget. [applause] >> thank you, mayor. just a couple of notes before we get started. for those of you that don't know about the collective, in is a space that has four

minimum making grooms at this point. we have six other offices still available. there is information on how big they are and how much they cost. but we welcome you to submit an application if you are interested. we would love to have more film makers in here. it is a great environment for collaboration, sharing ideas and just getting your work done. i think it is a pretty beautiful space. we are very fortunate to have this space here tonight. before we get started, i wanted to give thanks to pressure island wines. they are donating the wine for tonight, and it is really delicious, wonderful, and we are thankful to have their donations. let's give them a hand. [applause] i also want to acknowledge the hard work of christine monday, who is from our film office. really, this film collective is

her idea, and she has put a lot of energy into it. thank you, christine, for all the work you have done. [applause] >> and again thanking our film commission for supporting this. they have really put a lot of support behind it, letting us have it to start with. and then also giving us the go-ahead to put funds toward connecting this to high speed internet. right now we have tapped into the city's broadband network, so we have 25 up and 25 down, which not being a tech person, i don't really know everything that means. a file used to take 30 minutes to upload, and now it takes three minutes to upload. that is fantastic. in the rent, that is included. utilities and john torle are -- jantorial are included, and a common area and your own space. it is great a good deal for

film makers if you are interested in participating. craig larson is the owner of the building. he has worked with us, and he has been so generous to make it where we could afford this space and where we could give it to you at an affordable rate so. thank you, craig, even though you're not here. i think that's it for now. christine, if you would like to come up and introduce the next

supervisor wiener: what we have here is a very important project and a very important mission and a completely reasonable objection of neighbors who are concerned about a five-story building going in on their block, which is something we see in san francisco all the time, and there is nothing exceptional or inappropriate about people taking issue with the size of a building. i grow up in the philadelphia area, in new jersey, went to school up and down the east coast. i went to undergrad at duke university and law school at harvard. after clerking for a judge, i came out here and have been in here for the last 14 years.

i always assumed i would go back to the philadelphia area because that is where my family is, but i was always interested in sanford cisco in terms of the city, culture, the amazing lgbt community -- i was always interested in san francisco. i am an attorney. i started off in private practice, doing complex litigation. in 2002, i moved to the san francisco city attorney's office, where our work on the trial team, doing trials for the city and doing my own cases and supervising a team of attorneys as well. another huge issue confronting the city is the deferred maintenance on our infrastructure. we have a lot of infrastructure that has been deteriorating because we have not maintained it properly, from our roads to

our sewer system to muni. we need to be much more diligent about maintaining our infrastructure. i have been interested in politics since i was a kid. i have worked on campaigns since i was a teenager. i was involved in campaigning against senator jesse helms when i was in college. when i came out here i was not initially involved politically. i was involved in community work, helping to build the lgbt community center, doing neighborhood work, and i eventually started doing campaigns and gradually got more involved in democratic party politics. ultimately, in 2004, i ran for the democratic county central committee and ended up chairing the committee. it was a gradual process for me. by the time i started thinking about running for supervisor, it made sense because of my involvement in the community and the politics. i knock on about $15,000 -- i

knocked on about 15,000 doors and a huge amount of people. the best way to learn about the city and what people want and what people's concerns are. i feel like i know so much more than before i started campaigning. i am a good liberal democrat. in the san francisco, miniature spectrum, i am considered pretty middle of the road. one thing about me is i am very independent when it comes to the issues, and i do not vote on party lines. i judge each issue on its merit. we have provided woefully inadequate support for our transition-age youth, and when we do not provide that support, we end up causing other problems. it is not like it disappears. these are our youth,