approval has a large office in san francisco. we think the tech community in san francisco needs to finally get active. ed lee, the minute he stepped into office, the two significant things for the tech community, he got twitter to stay in san francisco, with the help of david chiu, and we got rid of the private company's stock option tax. noticing that, i said, we need ed lee to go another four years. warren and i had a vociferous meeting with the mayor on july 12 to urge him to run. if he ran, the tech community would support him. what you are seeing today is just the initial launch of the activities where the tech community will organize and partner with the city of san francisco.

one week from today, the tech community will announce what it is going to do, in an organized fashion, to support what is happening in san francisco in the city, and with the efforts that code for america isn't leading. we are truly going to bring had a tech culture to san francisco. it will be very exciting. san francisco is lucky to have a code for america, ed lee, and especially our new chief innovation officer, jay knapf, who will speak now. >> thank you, mayor for the opportunity to serve as the chief innovation officer in the city. in my role, i plan on strengthening the partnership with our technology community and city hall to rediscover the digital age. we have discovered so much

through our civic hack-a-thons and other things that we have done. this is a great example of harnessing the on deprenyl spirit in the city and realizing the potential of that, serving in the red better, making it more lean, efficient, and more responsive. i also want to thank the san francisco department of technology. they have incubated innovation. i have been working with the city for five years and they have done a tremendous amount. i look forward to continue the partnership with the department of technology to bring innovation to the forefront in san francisco. thank you. >> i will try to say something that has not already been said. thank you all for coming. similar to david, i will say, i

come from the private sector. when i came to the city, the question i got most was how do we made -- make government more exciting, let the private sector? we all work for tech companies or business firms, so how can we bring all that excitement into government? to have a board and mayor that recognizes technology in the community as an unborn aspect really revolutionizes government. really looking forward to the next four years, working with mayor lee, the tax community, ron. we are really at the cost of some fantastic things. in the last year, we have lots mobile -- launched mobile apps where people can watch online, at interact with their devices. we have started to partner with other cities and taking what we are doing here and spreading

across the country. this will only heighten our success. if we can use san francisco as a hub of where people can see how government is innovative, and they look to us as an example -- we have an expo coming up in a october. people from all over the world will be coming to see how we have innovative government and will be looking for leadership. i just want to encourage everyone to stay tuned. a i knowron will be making some and not -- i know ron will be making some announcements in the next week. i look forward to working with everybody in the future. >> what are hack-a-thons? >> the hacker culture is really about creating, rapidly prototyping solutions. often, it is equated to

applications and software, but during the summer, we had a partnership, and we expanded that notion by having people do thought experiments, by creating games, creating new ways of doing things. it is about innovation in general. it is not just technology and packing technology. it is more about getting a bunch of people, in a diverse community together, with people who have needs. in this case, the city. we have issues and challenges we face, and caring people who are problem-solving oriented. if we tear those two groups of people together, some amazing things have come up. we have had that over five and a people over this past year -- 500 people over the past year, over 10,000 hours of civic engagement, and nearly 30 application that have been developed. code for america, what they are

doing, is taking it to the next level, where we take these ideas and substantiate new business, and drive job growth, and disrupt government. you have seen a transformation in the consumer space. we have not seen a transformation in government. there is no reason why we cannot do that. >> problem solving. what is on the top of your priority list? how this code of america going to help you in that? >> we have got a lot of problems, obviously. they get worse every time i listen to what the state is going to do with their budget, certainly, with the fed's are cutting off. i have a whole list. muni comes to mind, for example. all of their challenges. some of the easiest examples

are, for example, the public says, i cannot find a taxi. one of the projects we want to put forward and an accelerated way is how we are preparing for the america's cup. we have over 500,000 people coming on a daily basis for that event. you are going to hear, i cannot find a taxi, or you will hear, i found a taxi through this new application. i would rather hear the last one. that will be one of the projects that david and i will agree on. there will be a lot of people in his district as well to say, how can we get good transportation, to get people where they want to go, to the waterfront? ac34, getting taxis and other types of transportation modes at their highest level of participation for that event, will be one of the projects that

we will put forward by the way. i want that to be of use for the public. maybe things like -- do our homeless people on the streets -- do they have the best information at hand about where they available shelters are immediately when they encounter someone on the street? can they get wraparound services right away without having to make three or four phone calls and then have the person say, i am not interested? those other kinds of things that will be hacked out. hopefully, our practices today will be disrupted. hack-a-thon and destruction have negative connotations. today, we are embracing those as positive ideas. -- disruption have negative connotations.

we have to change government, we have to change the way we think. i have been thinking through the night. it is much less about technology but the way that we think. i need to disrupt the way we have been thinking and start innovating our way out of this. i could sit back and cry about what jerry brown's budget will present to us, or what obama cannot do in this new administration, the things that are going to go on. or i could say, i am going to work with the most innovative part of our society, people who want to help the government to better. we have really positive things to do and be positive about the way we run government. that is what i want to get to. i know the board of supervisors want to get to that as well. we need to find solutions, and this is a way to invite people who are interested in doing it.

>> [inaudible] if it would actually create jobs, it would get things done. >> i would say, for example, when small businesses complain there are a myriad of permits and fees and all kinds of applications that are not all in one place. we will take a look at that. it is even the startup companies that ron represents, it is a myriad of application they are facing. can we have one place, repeated things that come at us every few months that our new that we did not know about that we can discover? human rights certification process, the small business commission, or the tax office. can we put all that together in one package and have a small business say, i want to get started in san francisco in an easy way. can we have all accessible and

be done with in a one effort shop? that will bring us better businesses, and they will pay their taxes and fees appropriately. >> [inaudible] why did it take a different process like this to actually make something happen? >> i know it has not emanated from the mayor's office. i have to admit that. that is what john and i talked about. it has not been emanating from the mayor's office, and we wanted that to happen. it has been distributed within dt and other departments. if you volunteer, you want to do it, if it is in your comfort zone, you take it up. i think we need to get out of our comfort zone, so that is why i brought it into the mayor's office to say, this is how i get my 17-point jump plan done. this is part of that effort.

and this is also to honor the technology sector and ask, how can we innovate government a bit better? [applause] thank you, everybody. >> is this working? all right. let me start by thanking everyone for coming out today. as everyone knows, there are several city agencies, several community groups, and i will get to the city family and leadership who is out here today. every chinese new year, all the departments all get together, and we all work very hard in making sure that the chinatown

area is clean, free from graffiti. that the merchants are allocated -- educated about our ordinances. this year, we're going to do something special and a little bit different. we have been working with the merchants association, the chinese chamber of commerce and many associations here to come up with a great idea to make walking much easier but also to make buying merchandise and enjoying chinatown much easier. hopefully also allowing the bus to run smoothly while these activities are going on. without further delay, i would like to introduce our mayor, who is no stranger to chinatown and who is really spearheading this idea. thank you. [applause] mayor lee: let's see if everybody can occupy the parking space. exactly what we want to do is

make sure people use the sidewalks as much as possible. first of all, how the new year, everyone. i know that as we celebrate the traditional new year, as soon as i finish with one new year, i get ready for the next year, because chinese new year is also a huge celebration not over chat -- not only over chinatown, but all over the city. the city really makes a lot of money with a lot of tourists that come in. the department of public works has already started -- you are already cleaning up the big gate down there and the graffiti. one of the things that is part of the tradition -- and it is already happening in my own house -- as i have to clean up

my hard, clean my kitchen, my bedroom, my living room before chinese new year comes. that is the same thing with literally every chinese family, every chinese-owned business, but also beyond that, i think this culture is spreading that a lot of non-asian families are doing the same thing. whether it is our friends at north beach or people here in chinatown. in talking with the merchants all over china town, chinese chamber, the stockton street merchants, the chinatown merchants association -- we wanted to capture a little bit more improvement this year on pedestrian safety. there was an idea that was created and talked about for several weeks where it began by a few years ago when i was public works director, that we expanded some of the sidewalks for the benefit of pedestrian safety. we worked very closely with the

traffic division of mta. we worked with our health department. we worked with chinatown neighborhood groups and the businesses to expand those sidewalks, and it has actually become quite a positive thing. then, we had sunday streets this past year in the summer where we literally took over grant ave. that became a very positive thing. in fact, we started the first ping-pong tournament in chinatown as a result. more and more, there has been an interest that more of the sidewalks and potentially maybe even a strip of the parking area be taken over with more pedestrian and shared with merchants in the area, so we began this collaboration through the mayor's office with the collaboration of all of the chinatown merchants groups, the chamber of commerce, the merchants association. the stockton street merchants in

particular, who are standing behind me. as well as the family association. then, certainly with supervisor david chiu and his staff, in thinking what we could do to enhance the time when it is most busy. we determined with the participation of our police department, our health department, our traffic division, and all the other agencies associated with our city administrator's office. the acting administrator is here to for dissipate as well. the 10 days before chinese new year is really the most impactual. we have a lot of families here not only eating, but buying the kinds of things that they need to do to get ready. in collaboration with all the agencies, and in particular our public safety agencies, we felt

we wanted to try something out. what we have determined is that from sacramento street through to broadway, and i believe there's a couple of blocks on broadway as well -- on a grant as well that we also determined were very impacted. that we would take an opportunity to announce and develop a pilot program where the parking spaces would then be occupied by a shared use of both pedestrians and merchants, and to see if we could do that in a safe way that we would allow ourselves to enhance it. quite candidly in my observation that i know is shared by some or others -- if we did not occupy it with that, it would be occupied by cars and a lot of delivery trucks all day long and maybe all night long. instead, to maybe enhance this. we decided that we would enhance the ability to have pedestrians

years that more and to have the merchants use that more, bring out more of the merchandise that will be sold their and still have the sidewalks to welcome in families. to have a safe pathway for all of them and keep everybody within the safety zone. we are going to do that as a pilot program this year. again, i really want to thank everybody working together because it is all the neighborhood agencies working under the leadership of public works, working with our police department and their foot patrols are out here, and they see what happens every day. we do not want anybody to get into the streets at all. right, commander and captain? it is their safety that is really the preeminent thing that we want to do. while we try to enhance the family experience in chinatown and welcome in a little bit more business and have that positive

experience. it works or it we need to tweak it, we will do more of the. we will work with everybody to enhance it. i think this is worth trying. i think it is time we do this, and it will begin this saturday. i think it is a welcoming thing for everybody that will increase the participation and i think increase the businesses. while the tourist business has increased this last year in the city, certain pockets of our city have not experienced as much as other pockets of the city. so this is yet another way we can do it. i know north beach has some special needs. we can pay attention to that in the very near future. there are other pockets, but this is part of what i wanted e merchant quarters, hear what they had to say, respond in a

positive way and experience and experiment with ideas that innovate with our emergence to try to enhance their ability to make a little bit more, and also help with the cultural scene. this year is the year of the dragon. eat you know anything about the dragon, you know that the dragon is kind of like the big leader of all of the zodiac animals. they are fearless. they have the big dragon breath. you know, the fire breath. they are not fearful of hast things. they want to just flows through some new ideas, and i think that is what we wanted to boldly this year, kind of use the spirit of the dragon to say, cassette and let's do some new ideas. let's be bold about it." let's do something that enhances the cultural theme of chinatown as well. we decided to do this. we believe we have the support of all of the residents. there preeminent thing was that

pedestrian safety be the number one thing, so we have done that. we have reflected in it. i want to thank this very balanced approach that vw has had with everybody's cooperation. all of the inspectors would be here. we will have some additional monitors to make sure that the safety is preeminent, but at the same time, to gauge the participation of everybody. i do believe what everybody's help, this will be a positive thing. particularly, i want to thank the merchants. they were bold enough to say, "let's try something a little different. supervisor is responsible for what happens in this district, so we engaged him early. i want to thank him for helping to support this but also helping to lead it as well. we will be working closely with him as he gives feedback on the experience. supervisor chiu: thank you, mr. mayor.

happy new year. have a chinese new year two weeks ahead of time. one of the most amazing aspect of, i think, one of the most special holidays that we celebrate in san francisco is the chinese new year rally brings books together. i want to thank everyone who is part of making this great announcement possible. our city agencies who are here, the mta, our san francisco police department, dpw, our city administrator. also, i have to thank our mayor. he first spoke to me about this in, i think, our first meeting right after the election. we both wanted to move forward on ideas that would help revitalize not just our merchant corridors and job creation, but make sure that chinatown remains the very special capital of the chinese-american community that it is. i think the announcement is also very special because we're talking about how we use our streets in a way that bill communities. san francisco in recent years has been on the forefront of taking back our streets for our families, our children, our

seniors. just like sunday streets, i think what we are experimenting with with this pilot project will be in that direction. we are also talking about making the chinese new year experienced more authentic. more what we expect chinese new year's to be celebrated throughout the world. i want to thank everyone here from the chinese merchant associations, attorneys chambers, our family associations, our non-profit associations. this is what san francisco should be about, coming together to celebrate san francisco. again, congratulations. happy new year. [applause] >> as you heard the mayor and supervisor chiu say, it is always coming together. one of the key partners in making sure the project is successful is sfmta. i will have them come and give

you a few tips on what to look for. [laughter] >> on behalf of all my colleagues at the sfmta we are pleased to be partnering with all the other city agencies as well as the community to bring forth this pilot. in addition to enhancing the pedestrian experience, we have done quite a bit on stockton street, including the pedestrian scramble signals recently. in addition to enhancing the experience through this pilot, one of our primary goals is to make sure that the traffic and transit continue to operate satisfactorily throughout this corridor. for that to happen, we will need everyone's cooperation. i think the best tool is compliance and cooperation. i am sure that will be the case. i am really looking forward to this pilot being impactful, the

official, and ultimately successful. thank you. [applause] >> another partner to make sure that while you are shopping at tsa is -- that while you're shopping you are safe is the finest police department. >> i had not prepared to come up, but i can tell you we're just delighted at the notion of wider sidewalks. it is good for fitness and good for safety. the captain and i walked up here, and i moved one double parked car along the way and let the bus through the intersection, at a said we should take the bus up, and we realized it was faster to walk. one thing we did also was we cut into the street a lot because of all the credit sidewalks. wider sidewalks are good, and we are most happy working with the issue of deliveries early and late, so not during the day. this is going to be good for traffic, good for business, and

good for pedestrians. the richmond station where i was several years ago -- i thought something like this, and i was told everywhere was too complicated, forget about it. so i commend you guys. i am sort speechless, and that does not happen to me often. [applause] >> as the mayor said, this idea was being worked on over the last few weeks, and it took quite a number of meetings. it took quite a bit of organizing. some agreements were being made. exactly how this was going to work. one of the neighborhood groups we worked with, so we will have them say a few words. >> i am the presiding president

of chinese consolidated delivery association, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of chinatown labour association and merchants on stockton street, we want to thank you. mayor lee, president of the board of supervisors, david chiu, dtw director, director, and commissioner, for all the support for making the chinese traditional sidewalk merchandise displayed a pilot program, a reality nine days before the chinese new year. starting from january 14 to january 22, from 10 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.. we all know that the sidewalk is

only 9.5 feet wide. it would be too congested for pedestrians to walk through the area, therefore, we elected mayor lee to use the parking space to display the merchandise in the parking area so that pedestrians would be able to walk through the sidewalk area. we are happy to report to you all that mayor lee accepted the stockton street merchants request. i have been saying for mandates to all my friends for many times that the people of san francisco are so lucky to be let ed lee as our mayor because he is not a politician but a public servant. he has served the people of san francisco for 22 years in five different city departments under