under challenging conditions. beyond that, there are hundreds of thousands of people who want to do this in their spare time. we are building a platform that would allow the city of san francisco to put out its needs and have people code on projects to make apps for citizens. that is, the code for america brigade. more importantly, we believe in the power of the zero entrepreneurs. we want not just great projects that people do in their spare time, but real, sustainable businesses that can work with the city. in some cases, work with ideas -- do not necessarily have to work with the city -- but that make our lives better. when i was here, i have some trouble finding a cab. mayor lee said he wants more companies, these things that brought alternatives and make our city richer. it is not just about the

existing infrastructure. it is all about the innovation you can bring to make this city better. i am so proud to be part of it. david brooks wrote an article in "the new york times" call in washington to task for not being on the innovation occurs. he thought we should be holding up the red seekers, ridiculing them. i do not want to talk about that. but there was one line in there that was important. he said, in government so far, there is no steve jobs figure insisting to the designers of government, keep it simple, elegant, and user friendly. if we do not have that figure, we do have you and a friendly city government that wants this to happen. that is the recipe to make our interface to government simple, elegant, and user friendly. i hope i can add to the call to all of you to partner with us to do this important work to make

our public institutions the best and most innovative we can have been the country. thank you very much. [applause] with that, i want to introduce peter schwartz, with a company that i love. they give their very innovative top form to nonprofits for free. peter schwartz of salesforce. >> we are delighted to participate in this initiative. we think it is incredibly important. i think you all know we are profoundly committed to san francisco today and into tomorrow. you may have seen some of the first pictures of our new campus, which will be one of the largest construction projects in the city. we need talented people to fill these positions. we are entering by innovation, and innovation is driven by talented people. we need to attract people to the city to fill those buildings. without them, we cannot sustain

innovation. it is a loop that continues going in the future. more creative people attract still more creative people. that is what we think this is about. we are delighted that mayor lee will be leading us in this process, of creating the conditions in education, transit, housing, taxes, that enable people to live in the city, wrote in the city, and continue to attract talent. i came here in 1969. i have been here ever since. this is the fourth company i have participated in, and we have great opportunity to grow. this initiative is part of what will continue to sustain san francisco as the great talent back before the world as a great place to innovate, develop, live. let me now handed over to supervisor chiu for the final comments. [applause] >> thank you and good morning.

this is an exciting day not just for san francisco, but for me personally. 13 years ago, i was in the san francisco board of supervisors' chambers, sitting next to a friend who was very absconds to the technology world, and we came up with an idea to start a political technology company, which i ran for 10 years. when i was elected to the board of supervisors on my first day, i turned on the computer and realized that we are on the lotus notes platform for e-mail. i found out san francisco has seven different e-mail platforms, when we should have one integrated platform. we are a city that operates with three dozen data centers, when best practices ~ we should have just two. most of our workers think hackathons are what you want to do it if you want to go to jail. finally, we are engaging in a community that has been engaged

all along, but a community that has been innovating in a sector that has been doing extremely well, but one that we want to bring your best ideas and talent also to help us with city government. we have a new generation of leaders at the border supervisors, a generation that really gets it. 10 days after jane kim was elected to the border supervisors, i called her as she was heading off on vacation. we talked about the fact that there was a company called twitter that we needed to figure out how to keep in the city. weeks later, we were standing together to figure out how to do that. a couple months after that, mark farrell and i were talking about a tech crunch article that talked about the ludicrous stupidity of a city that enjoyed taxing the stock options of technology start-ups. that has changed. christine olague has worked with low-income communities for years, and i know she is very committed to figuring out how we

make sure that latino immigrant who maybe eight years old who lives in her district may someday work at a company like yours. we are committed to being partners with all of you, with our mayer, chief innovation officer, and we have a lot of work to do. we have schools that needs to be fixed, taxis that need to be cut, muni systems the need to be recalled, and i hope ideas on how to changes are here in this room. we look forward to working with you. thank you. [applause] >> ok, we are open it up for q&a from the media. before we do that, i forgot one thing. that is the color of the golden gate bridge. that was a suggestion from jack dorsey. co-founder of twitter, and the seventh anniversary of the bridge celebrated memorial day weekend, we have mc hammer, a

friend of tech in the back. with that, questions from the media, please. >> i wonder if you could explain what these investments do? >> this organization is going to represent the tech community in a unified fashion. the first agenda, which we are taking the lead from ed lee on is job creation. if we can create 500 to 1000 new jobs this year, we can have a significant impact on the economy of san francisco. ouster -- our support for code for america, another nonprofit, to go into the city of san francisco, fined projects like david chiu just talked about,

projects that volunteer hackers from the tech community can go in and solve problems for the city of san francisco, to eradicate bureaucracy. applying for a business license in san francisco is not a pleasant experience. we need to apply technology to problems like that. >> [inaudible] >> initially, it is about the economy and jobs. many of us in s.f. citi are very active already philanthropic way. the mayor keeps talking about the philanthropic efforts. funny enough, i am tied to ask him what is in his mind. we have not discussed that yet because we are focused on jobs. thank you.

>> [inaudible] >> sopa is a bill in the congress. there is a bill called pipa in the senate. the moniker for the bill in the house is sopa. these bills are tantamount to censorship on the internet. i was with ari emanuel, probably the most famous agent in the country, mark andriessen, in southern california, and we talked about this. mark had the most concise description. do you want to turn the united states into china, where all content is censored?

these bills are not good for technology. we can name some of the leading companies of san francisco who, if this bill was passed 10 years ago, would not be allowed to even exist. it would have a horrible impact on these companies today. we are working with senators and congressmen to make sure this bill stops. it was squeaking through congress fairly rapidly because of the big media companies, they do not advertise the bill. thank god for lobbyists like technet. i am sorry to go on a ranch, but this is a serious issue for our community. our member companies will be hearing more about this because we can help. >> [inaudible] >> if you know ari emanuel well -- mark andriessen and i were

very open with him about our -- he immediately reacted emotionally in our favor. i said, understand this the 0's of the media company's you do business with are the ones that we are trying to sneak this through. he said, i know that, and i will help you.

>> is my pleasure to introduce our first speaker. in addition to making it possible for us to use this beautiful ballroom for the dedication ceremony today, he made great contributions to the dragon dance you just saw performed moments ago. i felt very under-dressed after seeing him. please welcome mr. palermo. >> happy new year! [applause] i would like to welcome everyone to the hilton financial

district and the u.s. postal service stamp ceremony. we are honored to share this opportunity and proud to be part of the dedication ceremony. happy new year, everybody. [applause] >> thank you, jeff. i am pleased to introduce the honorable edwin lee, the first asian-american mayor in san francisco history. he was appointed unanimously as the successor mayor by the board of supervisors in 2011 to fill the remaining term of mayor news who was sworn in a s lieutenant governor. mayor lee won the election and will serve a full term as mayor. prior to his employment with the city and county of san

francisco, he was the managing attorney for the san francisco asian law caucus. he worked there from 1979 to 1989. he was born in seattle. he was born in a previous year of the dragon. he is a summa cum laude graduate of bowdoin college and san francisco school of law. please help me welcome san francisco's mayor. [applause] >> thank you. happy new year. [applause] it is my delight to be here. i want to add my thanks to the u.s. postal service. i look forward to this every year to see the postal

officials delivered the artistic beauty of these stamps. this is the fifth stamp set the we have enjoy. thank you for being here. i really enjoy the camaraderie of everybody on the stage. he represents a much of what we're proud of in the city reduced represent so much of what we're proud of in the city. -- you represent so much of what we're proud of in the city. it was in the earlier years when we started the tradition of designing the stamps. claudine, thank you very much. [applause] tommy ing, officials are here today as well from the u.s. postal service. thank you very much.

to my good friend who will follow me. we were law school roommates at berkeley. he is also a dragon. we have two dragons in the house. he is now the federal judge for the ninth circuit. he is enjoying himself. i know that. he fought hard for that judge ship. we're so happy to see him there. you should have been there during our law school years having two dragons in the same house. it was a hot house. [laughter] anita and i have done all of the traditional things. in the last two weeks, we have clean our house. we have done all the things we're supposed to do. we're getting ready to host the new year. what a wonderful year this will be. it is a year of the dragon.

it is the most powerful of all the zodiac animals. it also represents with this city is all about. it challenges us to make sure that we take the risks and meet our challenges head-on. we do not fear change. we make those changes. we are bold and innovative. we will innovate our way to solutions. that is what is wonderful year of the dragon will mean. i am so proud to a been elected your mayor of this great city. it is not just the chinese new year. it is celebrated through the vietnamese and the japanese, korean communities, the african- american and latino communities.

they're all here in this room joined by many different agencies, including our school district. norm is a new member of the school district board. thank you for being here. [applause] so many of you have joined in looking at the stamp. it is artistic and rich with heritage. the art director is here. thank you for being here as well. there are so many students. i want to put forth the theme of education. we have an opportunity to educate people about the themes of our culture. we can unite the city and bay area as much as we can in celebration and in the boldness and innovation that the dragon calls for. we will need it because so many

things are happening. this is the time we take on the challenges before us. the art history of this design is so rich and intricate. i have seen the others, but this one is really special. you have done a great job. thank you very much. [applause] and so it is that i want to welcome everyone on this very prestigious day. earlier, we had members of the board of supervisors. everybody wants to do something special on chinese new year. i understand that david chiu has officiated a marriage for one of his staff. we will now have many dragons running around. [applause] there are so many other things happening today.

it is wonderful. i could ushave used more red at the game last night, but we will move forward. thank you to the postal service and all of the groups. individuals have stepped up like jeff and walter and so many individuals stepping up and using their own time and efforts. the parade in the events leading up to it are about the community coming together to utilize our time, talent, and resources to celebrate and reinvigorate the city. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee. i am pleased to introduce judge

chen, a graduate of the university of california at berkeley and also the law school at berkeley. he was appointed a federal magistrate for the northern district of california in april of 2001. after clerking for a district judge and court of appeals judge, judge chen practiced as a litigation associate. in 1985, he joined the american civil liberties union foundation of northern california. he worked on a wide range of issues including free speech, employs privacy rights, police misconduct, and discrimination. in august of 2009, he was nominated by president obama's to the u.s. district court. on may 10, 2011, he was confirmed by the u.s. senate as

a district judge. he told me a few minutes ago he gets the last word after his college roommate. please join me in welcoming our dragon judge, judge chen. [applause] >> thank you, steve. it is an honor to be here. it is a double honor to follow the mayor. i have never had the mayor as my opening act. [laughter] i really am pleased to be here. mayor lee is right. we go way back. we have known each other for 37 years. the mayor is only about 48. [laughter] we do have a lot in common. maybe that is why i was chosen to come after the mayor.

they say two heads are better than one. we're both in dragons. we're both water dragons. this is the year of the water dragon, every 12 years. you can kind of gas how old the mayor is. [laughter] if you subtract 24 from that, you will get my age. [laughter] not only do we share the name ed, we have parents coming from the same part of china. we went to the same law school. we share the same address for a brief period of time. we worked in many of these same agencies. we both have beautiful wives who have been very supportive, a great kids, and both of us are really good looking. [laughter] for those of you who have some doubt about the chinese zodiac

and horoscope system, let me read you this description of the water dragon to see how well it fits the mayor and me. the water element focuses on other's well-being rather than their own. they are often more diplomatic and intuitive. they seek out positions that focus on correcting social problems. what better description for our mayor? there's also a list of characteristics associated with water dragons. innovative, enterprising, eclectic, self-assured, passionate, surely not conceited, quick-tempered, and talk to us. [laughter] -- tactless. [laughter] we will skip those. not only is this a beautiful

work of art at an important date and time of our life, but it symbolizes something really important. that is the diversity of this nation. to have a stand that celebrates the lunar new year with more to come really sends a message that the chinese-american community is part of america and that all of our cultures are important. as a kid growing up in the bay area, the postal service has played an important role in our community. everybody knows somebody who has worked for the postal service. the postal service has been one of the most important employers of minorities throughout its history. i remember as a young child one public neater we could look to was postmaster lee.

[applause] that was the most important role model we had. we did not have a mayor, board of supervisors president, people on the board of education. but we had somebody we could look to. i want to thank the postal service for playing a leadership role in making sure diversity is an important part of our country. [applause] >> for the dedication, it is my pleasure to introduce the vice- president for sales at the u.s. postal service. he was named vice president of sales in august of 2001. he oversees the sales and service organization focused on serving the needs of all commercial mailers and businesses. please welcome him to begin the dedication of the stamp. [applause]

>> thank you. good morning. happy new year. i am pleased to be here joining you and thousands of people around the world in celebrating lunar new year. the u.s. postal service work force is one of the most diverse in america. that is by design. we serve the most diverse customers on the face of the era. nearly 40% of our employees are minorities. of those, nearly 9% are asian- american or pacific islanders. we are extremely proud of our inclusive environment that respects the uniqueness of every individual and encourages the contributions of people from different cultures, backgrounds, experiences. diversity is one of our biggest pluses as an employer. the postal service issued its first service of lunar new year

stamps through 2004. in 2008, we introduced a new series of stamps commemorating lunar new year. since then, we have probably pay tribute to the year of the rat, the year of the ox, me, the year of the tiger, and the year of the rabbit. we're pleas stamp for the year f the dragon to the popular series. according to one chinese legend, all of the animals of the kingdom were invited to a meeting but only 12 showed up. as a reward, he gave each animal a year of his own. the dragon is the fifth of 12 animals associated with the chinese lunar calendar. of the 12, is perhaps the most potent and recognizable in

images and mystic tales. it has been said that people born during the lunar new year tend to of the traits of the animal feature during that year. individuals born during the year of the dragon are said to be brave, passionate, innovative, enterprising, and self- confident. these same qualities can be found throughout the postal service, one of our nation's oldest public service institutions that continues to be a vital interest to the gateway to american households. it was created more than 235 years ago. it delivers messages, merchandise, and money everywhere, every day. it is a service that the american public relies on. the postal service also issues stamps that help to keep the mail moving and facilitate communication and commerce in america. oftentimes these