not door to make investments in our neighborhood, and if we did not, it would go downhill very quickly. so we started with a number of debra agencies to work together along this corridor. guess what, a few years later with that kind of investment, we >> good morning, everyone. have trees alive here. we have seen in other corridors my name is naomi kelly, city and comparatively. one of the statistics i want to. minister -- city administrator. it is the portola, the neighborhood that has been out here. the neighbors that want to welcome to the portola neighborhood. continue investing, want us to we're celebrating the successful invest in debt. efforts to revitalize san bruno it is a coordinated and avenue. this city has had a great collaborative effort. today we begin identifying the partnership with the portola never its steering committee, key partners and leaders. where some of it's never the so i wanted to announce that noami kelly is the city investments include streetscape improvements, from planting trees and leaves to utility administrator and will be working with jen matts as kind underground in and fixtures and to install office of the two leaders in this initiative of the neighborhood saw improvements and much more. today, mayor edwin lee will talk investments. the neighborhood investment about launching the investing in initiative is going to reflect collaboration of all of the iran initiative.

joining him is supervisor different elements that made a malia cohen, robert ramirez from san bruno successful. in an addition to the small business loans, we're going to the portola neighborhood have a lot of other ideas. steering committee, and many where do we bring more of our department heads, including jennifer from the office of community ambassador program as economic and workforce we invest in that? development, ed harrington from where do we bring in the the san francisco public collaboration with our police utilities commission, regina department here today, where they can have more visibility so from the small business office, people can feel safe? bevon from sf hope, and how do we get our office of small business -- regina is here revitalizing our commercial today, to get their programs out corridors has been near and where needed, and to lecture the dear to mayor lee's heart since his days as director of dpw and commissions are paid attention to all of the different corridors. this all has to do it as city administrator and down collaboration and a coordinated as mayor. whether it did the dpw community effort. when we announce the $1 million corridor program, ambassador this year and the $5 million program, or the challenge grant, small business loan program, it the mayor is always asking us how can we strategically deploy is in the context of a very good our resources to revitalize collaboration that we have from agencies like the puc. these aboard commercial ed harrington is here today. corridors in areas that need it the most? with that, i would like to dpw, community ambassadors program, muni, our police

introduce mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> thank you, city department, and cdbg, our administrator. good morning. welcome to the portola neighborhood. mayor's office of housing. it is all part of the way in which we should do business, that is the pronunciation that i getting collaboration as well. so that when we meet with learned many years ago when we were picking up garbage in these neighborhood leaders here, they little pockets all over this san know they have got connections bruno avenue. an were to every single agency. when we work with sf ci5tty and quarter and eight permits online. when we do things like an event parklets and make those successful and accessible. or use money to create an even better coffee shop that will come here to san bruno. it is going to come very soon. we have leadership in place.

we have coronation. funding is in the works. -- we have coordination. we're on a positive scales in our economy. i am going to use the additional revenues we see coming into this city. make sure we do it and use it smartly. we are going to invest in our community challenge grant program that has been so successful all along this corridor. they have worked magic with the neighborhood groups that want to see greening and better programs. the murals in place of grafitti have been wonderful. it will be replicated throughout the city. thank you very much for joining us. [applause] >> coldiron, we have some more people -- hold on, we have some

more people. there will be questioned. next, i would like to invite up supervisor malia cohen. [applause] >> good morning. i think today is another example, as was yesterday, of the physical manifestation of what happens when thoughtful people and thoughtful leaders come together. i like to publicly to thank the portola neighborhood steering committee. thank you for your leadership and commitment to san francisco and to this little cove that recall the portola. my home. i was raised here. my parents still live here. this corridor means a lot to me personally. it is a very committed to continue to support the merchant corridor, as low as the neighbors, and continue to improve our efforts to beef up and maintain the safety as the number-one priority here on the margin corridor. thank you to our community leaders. [applause]

>> , thank you, supervisor. next, i would like to introduce reporter wrote rivera's to speak on behalf of the portola neighborhood steering committee -- i would like to introduce roberta ribble -- roberto ramirez. >> good morning. we recently went through and name change. we're not the portola neighborhood association. i am making the official announcement today. i want to thank the office of economic and workforce development, as well as liz. our partners. i also want to thank the mayor and his staff for being here and enacting the initiative this morning here in the wonderful portola, where we have accomplished a number of great things in the past couple of years. and number of volunteers successfully completed the first phase of the island beautification project at the

intersection of allegany boulevard and san bruno avenue. we're still hoping to complete phase two and phase three of the project soon. we hope with your continued support, mayor, that we can accomplish this. mid the first phase was made possible by rt dpw, mohammed nuru, liz, and sandra. greening and planning has been made possible by dpw and staff and sf clean city coalition. have accomplished and made possible seventh assata improvements along san bruno avenue. -- seven facade improvements along san bruno avenue. we have had a series of events to promote a neighborhood pride and involvement, such as an night on the portola, chinese leaders dinner, and a pop-up art gallery this past february right

there in that space, which is available for lease. this is the site of our future pocket park and hopefully a coffee house right there in that space. [applause] and i wanted to thank others for their efforts and architects for humanity. [applause] thank you for helping us move this forward. i would like to give a very special thanks to oewd who has been instrumental and supportive. this coming thursday at 6:00 p.m.-exact location, we will be having a needs assessment workshops to determine the needs of the neighborhood in hopes of continuing to make the portola of better place. we still have a lot to do. we're confident that with the mayors of the city's continued support, we're going to get some great things accomplished. thank you, mayor lee, for your commitment to helping the portola and other san francisco neighborhoods.

[applause] >> ok, next we have a member of sin city coffee, one of the first revolving loan applicants. [applause] >> thank you all for coming. i did not really expect to see all of you here. 15 months ago i was laid off. with $25 and a big dream, i often -- and opened a little coffee shop. amy came around six or seven months later asking if i would like to open another one. i said, if you believe in me, i will take a chance. the biggest gamble ever did. mayor lee, your staff rocks. thank you so much. i know what i do open, each and every single one of you can come and check out blue bottle coffee and single origin and chocolate. thank you. [applause]

>> all right, in addition to all those departments that i mentioned earlier, i want to thank mohammed nuru from the department of public works to build ginzberg from rec and park, adrian, jose, von, tiffany, and lenita from the community challenge grant. and juaquin. thank you. portola, portola, portola neighborhood. thank you for coming out to the portola neighborhood today. [applause]

>> good afternoon petraeus i am hearing to present -- i was told over the weekend, no, i would go present and entered as the person who will be receiving the award this year. i said, when is that coming at the lunch? the end, the grand finale? she said, no, it is the first award. i said, isn't this the international women's day and we're giving a man the first award? she said, oh, they have to go back to work. i said, we have heard that before. so the man of the year. when we think about who the right person should be and is deserving of such an honor, believe me, we're not looking for a man who is in high political office or the ceo of

the major companies. instead, we're looking for someone who has demonstrated over time that he is committed to advancing equal rights and opportunities for women and minorities, someone who has talked the talk and walked the walk. i know we have a number of guests from other countries at this year's women's summit. and at many levels. and it is universal. we're talking about advice for education. jobs and economic opportunities. and in the political arena. when i first became active in this community, thanks again to many of my friends who are in this room who are my inspiration and give me all the encouragement that i have had, i have come to learn that we must have a place at the table. that is what was referenced issue today. this should be the theme this year, to be at the table. we're talking about in the

corporate world, the board room, the state legislature, the halls of congress, or at city hall. well, i am very proud of the recipient of this year is a man of the year award, our mayor, mayor at least pujols -- mayor ed lee. [applause] the mayor is the chosen one. not because you have the title of being the mayor. the mayor was the chosen one because over the last 30 years, he has a history of promoting justice and advancing equal rights and opportunities for women and minorities in the city and beyond. when he graduated from law school across the bay, and

instead of adding to a corporate law office, he decided to work for the asian law caucus, fighting against discrimination, against women and minorities. when he became the first asian- american to be in that position in this great city, again -- that was less than three months ago that when the mayor was sworn billion, he took every opportunity he had to advance women. when there is an opportunity to appoint a member to the board of supervisors, and for those of you who do not live in san francisco, that is our city council. among the list of qualified candidates, he elected christina olague . i believe supervisor olague is with us today. [applause] and in a short three months when he has had an opportunity to nominate and appoint somebody to the very important position which he firmly held as the

chief administration officer of the city and county of san francisco, and again he immediately nominated noami kelly to be our cao. [applause] we're living in a city that we're very lucky, and we know that women around the world and in many other cities are not as lucky. when i look around their room, i see that we have many city departments headed by women. of course there can always be more. but i see melanie, miriam, emily. i mean, there are quite a few and we're very proud. i am looking at the next four to eight years, and i can see there will be more and more women leaders in our city government. so we're very fortunate to have somebody at the top of the city that really believes in making room for women at the table. now i would like to invite the

one and only surely bell to join me in presenting this award, and please join me in representing the man of the year, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> wow, thank you, claudine and shelly. thank you for this distinguished meant. very much appreciated. i am is sitting here listening to the introductory remarks, and i have flashbacks of decisions that made in the past. but if it begins with i think

having different attitude because i had a strong mom who had to raise kids by herself and understanding how single mothers have to survive and raise a whole family gives you life lessons. i also need toothache -- to thank anita because she appointed me her husband. so i have to return the favor. [applause] but you know, i can go on about a lot of things we have done, but i am more excited to signal to all of you to really work hard with us. there is just a lot more to do. because there will be efforts that tried to hold us back as a society, but then we have to continue moving forward. we cannot let the the kind of radio talk-show hosts and things like that hold us back.

i, too, have to express my personal shock and just in this day and age how such a vicious language can be used that when someone is invited to present their expertise as a law student about the needs of women, and it has been such almost spoiled, i guess, to be in san francisco, because this is often our culture, to listen and to follow-up with the articulation from advocates, from people who have served in all kinds of government and business, educational institutions, the private sector, the public sector, to listen carefully to the needs that our children, our young girls and our women in need to not only survive but to go well beyond that and succeed in society. i am often reminded who holds half of the sky up in the city.

so i am going to continue inviting all of you, particularly speaking to the women here who do have experience and knowledge and foresight to advise me and advise my administration of how we can do better in all aspects. nationally, locally, and internationally to keep advocating strongly how we can protect and nurture and how we can make sure that our society is of equalness. that is why i said at the beginning that the flashbacks of being at the dpw and human rights commission, recalling the advocates the came to meet with me and said how important it it is for a city to sign on to united nations convention to eliminate all forms of discrimination -- [cheers and applause] that is still important.

and then a decade later, to realize we're still one of the only cities to have done that. how can we still be alone in this effort? realizing we have got a lot more work to do. and to say to you that if you do not continue advocating, if we do not have opportunities for you to speak out enough for us to listen and to absorb and to integrate into our policies, then you are god have voices of their that suggest -- then you're going to have voices out there that suggest that the issues you bring out are private matters. that cannot be accepted in a city like san fran. -- like san francisco. [applause] i join recognizing international women's day. i personally thank you for this award and recognition. but i also want to make sure

you're challenged and you are invited and you are encouraged to advocate with them and to this administration, because we will listen and we will act on it those things to make sure that we're more of an equal society and that we can provide perhaps leadership to other areas of the country that have yet to catch up. thank you very much. [applause] >> we are going to make a presentation that all the honorees are going to get today. it is from an incredible artists, wanda whitacre, who was over in the corner. she has done a series of portraits murals of each of our honorees, and it is are a gift to you for all that you have done. >> wow. >> so we present to you the ed lee mural. [applause]

>> well, thank you, ms. what occurred -- whitacre. i read your bio, so i understand you have other skills i might need like hypno- >> of the community clean team gathered in district 11.

after the rally, the mayor and the supervisor at 20 teams went to work at a new mold around young trees. school children worked with adults while the youngest volunteers were entertained. the bill planters and learned about waste reduction. led by the department of public works, the main focus was on a tree maintenance. the city is looking at the health of the new trees, making sure they are able to stand on their own. this year's arbor day was dedicated to the memory of an environmental activist they used the planting as a community building activity in kenya. san francisco's leaders plan to the new tree in the playground. the remembered her during the opening kiof