employment data before we start our initiatives. we asked our member companies how many people are you going to hire this year? i was thinking the answer would be 2000 or 3000 and i was going to go to beed lee and read about that. it is 8000 new jobs and counting. it is staggering. >> your not counting the companies that do not exist yet. -- you are not counting the companies that do not exist yet. >> that is the beauty of it. >> we have one minute. one minute on the hot seat. i have been reading all this great spot -- stuff habout how this would be a modern campus. that is changing. explain the news. >> we're growing faster than a year and a half ago. we have been experiencing

spectacular growth. 37% over the last few quarters. that is more than anything we could have thought about when we were in the recession and we were thinking about applying for the future. we are -- we have had to rethink our real estate strategy in light of that. rather than basically focusing on mission bay, we found downtown makes more sense to us to expand and grow to the size and speed that is critical for us. well certainly we have -- we were excited about mission bay at some level we were hoping it would work out. we're more excited about the story of our growth and being downtown, it is a fantastic place. there are more jobs for san francisco which this is all about. the theme of the conference, we're excited about that. >> i have a feeling a lot of people are thinking this in the room and i want to make sure i

asked. if the tax waiver were rescinded, would tech companies leave? why do they get to play by different rules? as i was writing about this last year we had tons of commons saying twitter is corporate welfare. why should we give a millionaire's tax breaks? he is asking, do they get to play by different rules if a tax rule were rescinded, would tech companies leave? >> i believe it would. this thing about tax breaks for millionaires, no, thank you. twitter has 800 employees. 10, 20 will be millionaires and the earned every nickel. they created the hundred jobs -- 800 jobs. this is about giving people a break. this is about jobs. tech companies are very frugal. part of it is the resentment that they are being taxed for

creating jobs. i do not blame the tech community. that is why we're sitting here. >> i think the point is san francisco is small. a 7 mile by 7 miles city and if you could go anywhere around it and not have to pay taxes, that is your duty. you have investors to answer to. that is the point. you can go outside the border and not have it. it was clear was not an empty threat. another mentioned challenges for air travel in sf. please give us some international flights. china is the only place i can fly to directly. that is my plug for the morning. i want to thank our wonderful panel for getting up early. we work 10 hours which is usually working all night and sleeping in tel 10:00 a.m. give them a big hand of applause for being here.

[applause] >> ok. let's give our panel another great round of applause. they were great. this is the beginning of the chamber's relationship with the tech community. i want to give special thanks to ron conaway -- conway. no one has ever called me and angel except my mother. you really are an angel. you went out of your way. we will develop a strong working relationship with sf city, i promise you. now we're glad to end our program this morning with the man who has been the architect of putting tech on the map in

san francisco and that is our mayor. please welcome back to the stage john mcnedo. john. [applause] >> thank you. it is now my pleasure to introduce our mayor. edwin m. lee was sworn in on january 8, 2012 as the 43rd mayor of the city and county of san francisco. ed lee is the first asian- american mayor in san francisco history. [applause] mayor lee was elected on november 8, 2011 by the people of san francisco while he was serving as interim mayor. appointed unanimously as successor mayor by the board of supervisors on january 11, 2011. while serving as interim mayor, mayor lee championed balancing

the budget to keep san francisco safe, solvent, and successful. reforming city pensions, economic developments, a job creation, and public safety as his top priorities. mayor lee has worked hard to keep the economy and economic recovery on track, create jobs for residents, and everything that supports a thriving economic climate like parks, transit, housing, quality of life in the neighborhoods, and public safety. mayor lee's focused on job creation, taking responsibility for building san francisco's future. for helping each other and that government more efficient and accountable through innovation and technology. here to talk about the priorities, please welcome our 43rd mayor of the city of san

francisco. ed lee. [applause] >> thank you very much for that kind introduction. good morning, everyone. i want to thank john and wade and steve and the chamber for the invitation to address you. i am the last speaker. after that panel, i am almost eager to go back right to work. there is a much to do and thank you very much, katie and george. i very much appreciate that dialogue. as you can tell, when you hear about all that, i could spend hours going through all the tech companies and what they're trying to do. ultimately, it is about job creation. i do get excited about that. it does keep me going, getting up very early, sarah. regardless of how i get there.

if i can create one job every day for someone here in sisk -- in san francisco, that will satisfy me greatly. there are hundreds and thousands of jobs at stake. i will continue making this might mantra because i think it is the right thing to do for our great city. i might also acknowledged the members of the board of supervisors here today. they have been announced earlier. we all work as a team. it has never been about the mayor him or herself. if i have learned anything i have learned that working in concert with the board, making sure we have clear tones of communication and making sure we speak more and more in the language that is important for the city. language and policies and ideas that create investor confidence in the city. that is what i have been talking about more and more. we have got to have a city that

is investment-confident. one that does not have a doubt because if your investment is your family, it is a small business, it is someone joining another one's business, we have to have that level of confidence to see things through for you. your investment is one that is positively welcome, it taken care of, and prosperous. that is how we get to the theme of today's breakfast of prosperity and sharing of that prosperity. before began, i want to take a moment to thank my good friend. john has been at the helm of the chamber for the last year. he has been an important aspect of the work i have done over the years, as you know. i started at the human rights commission and i went to the purchasing which was the finest job i ever had. who could not have fun buying a

billion dollars worth of supplies every year? the former mayor willie brown gave me a good job of director of public works, picking up everyone's trash, engaging in conversations with everyone about what was wrong with our streets and making them right. it was in that toughest job i ever had that i found probably lifelong friends, people who care enough about the city that picking up somebody else's trash is nothing when you can work together and drew about how better the city can become. i want to recognize john because he is one of those few people who i can properly engage in the trash talk and still talk about the city in a positive way. thank you, john, for your wonderful service. [applause] when i came a year ago, san francisco. the unemployment rate was 9.5%.

we heard a presentation about how we made that change. at the time we faced the $380 million budget deficit and we were struggling. how to meet the increasing cost of our pension and health care obligations. you remember that discussion about our pension? have we come along way. it is still mentioned -- still prevalent. a year later our city, board of supervisors, the mayor, elected officials have come together with the help of great city department leaders that are also here today, doing everything we can to make sure that we tackle the pension issues and make sure that our budget is balanced. more importantly, we put people back to work. that is the most important thing all this have joined together in

doing. the last 12 months, guess what we have done? we created jobs for an additional 17,300 san franciscans, bringing our unemployment rate down from 9.5 to 7.6%, that is just in one year. thank you for your help on that. [applause] two weeks ago, in our city comptroller's report, we got another nice little nudge of good information. more positive news about our economy. our revenues became $129 million greater than projected in the first six months of the fiscal year. $129 million. [applause] that is wonderful data for san franciscans because guess what? for quite some years now, it has been deficit, deficit, deficit, no increase, revenues going

down, all the bad news that have been shared year after year with our department heads and all of you know how wonderfully- negative the discussion has been and now we see some positive light. i stand before you a year in office to say that san francisco -- economic recovery is real and underway and the economic policies and the strategies we pursued are working and they're working well. our city could not do this without the partnerships of many of you who are here today. san francisco is back on track we must stay the course. what i mean is even though our revenues have surged from the economic growth that our tech companies have provided and traditional companies who have been here for so many years, let

me do this. i know that i have been known as the tech mayor and i want to share that with the board and officials but i also want to say one of the reasons i come here so enthusiastically to the chamber is to have always been here for the city. your members have been with the city struggling with us, we come to you to help us. you helped us tremendously on a number of things last year and i want to say thank you to all the traditional members of the chamber as well. whether it is wells fargo, pg&e, or ecology, and the worst numbers of sponsors who have been here today and continue to come here. you have been part of the life blood as we walk them -- welcome in the biotechnology and green tech. the people of this city and every neighborhood and who have experienced all the great,

positive dialogue but has also been concerned about-dialogue -- about negative dialogue. many of you joined with me weeks ago when we celebrated 50 years of tony bennett and his wonderful song. we have much more to celebrate in the coming years and i hope you join in the chamber in making sure we share this prosperity. having said that, and knowing that our economy is improving, i want to make sure you know i will be at the helm with the board making sure we are not attempted to return to spending habits and to short-term traces that got us into trouble in the first place. we have to your budgets now. we have a renewed sense of obligation responsibility. we talk about things like our infrastructure. things that allow our tech companies to be successful or

what sarah talked about. we have to solve some serious transportation issues in the city and that is why we spend an hour saturday morning at a technology hackathon or un- hackathon. we are trying to solve problems with our taxis and make sure someone can attach -- catch a taxi where they need it. another aspect of our issues that we will continue to try to get solutions to. more than ever we have to double down on reform. on innovation and investment in our future. that is why we will continue to announce we are the innovation center for the whole world right here in san francisco. soon enough, there will be signage that reflects that in the city because we have to break with some traditional things that prevented us from announcing that in the most broadway. letting everybody know that this is the center for great

things to happen. we want to keep that innovation strong and keep the dialogue like the panel has been talking about, how to keep the sales force growing, how to keep twitter here. as this technology helps us to find solutions we have not thought about. once and for all, we must treat government and our responsibilities as mayors, as families do. find savings where we can, reduce unnecessary spending, and most importantly, and vast. invest in our people and invest in our infrastructure. as said earlier, i'm going to continue talking about jobs. i do not care if i am called the guy who has one thing. i come here every single day to the office asking whether or not i have created another job for somebody else and when you learn

about the statistics that ron and others are sharing with us, if it is jobs for san franciscans, that is worth getting up early, that is worth sacrificing late-night meetings, that is worth giving up weekends, except my golf. we are attracting tech. we're attracting biotech and clean tech. we are supporting manufacturing. we're going to be making more things. i heard this morning fashion is coming back. technology, of fashion will be an exciting area we unleash soon but i will tell you this. there are areas we do not pay attention to but that are not only stable, increasing, and wonderful when you hear this. did you know and i got this from a recent report from our health care, our hospital council

recently. did you know that our health care industry in san francisco generates economic impact of over $15 billion a year? our own health care industry. 99,000 jobs. that is a huge contribution to our economy. i do not want them to be silent anymore. our health care needs are important and we will get that cpmc job done very shortly, weighed -- wade. we need to continue to reform our payroll tax. we have got to incentivize business to create those jobs. while they are doing that, the conversation the board has been very good -- at the board has been very good. we have got to get that employment training center up

and invite those that are living in the tenderloin, the mid market or south of market, the traditional groups who have struggled and they identify programs in the past, they called them digital divide. there were not caught up to the level of education and technology they wanted to be. we have to help them and help our returning veterans get those skills sets. people who are in their mid- career as get the skills that -- skill sets. that is why training is so important. we also need training in -- partnerships and more private and public investments in our schools. i will talk a lot about that with the new president of our school board, norman yee and hydra mendoza. i will talk about how our schools can participate and make sure there are generations of kids who do not lose hope in the

city. do not look elsewhere when the best jobs are created right here. all they have to do is do their part and when they do their part and complete that education, the education they need will be there for them. i want to say one thing about our infrastructure. something i want you to remember as you leave today's room. it is -- want to mention something about hetch hetchy. there is dialogue out there that some people are suggesting that we can tear down our hetch hetchy dam and still survive as a city. i want to let you know that as insane as that is, it is in fact, insane. [applause] there are going to be some leaders that approach you, suggests that tearing down the

hetch hetchy is a good idea. they will grow pew into some discussion about water sustainability issues. but know this. not only do we have the cleanest water, not only have we spent serious amounts of money upgrading seismically the whole system to deliver that clean water, but it is also one of the strongest clean hydroelectric power sources infrastructure that any city across the country has ever had. i want to make sure you know that as this public dialogue begins and do not get misled on those discussions by people who will connect up something that we do want to have which is a good sustainability of water but not by tearing down our dam. finally, i want to end with a discussion about america's cup. yesterday we did make that

announcement that pier 30 and 32 are no longer part of it. the public discussion and discourse around the investment we do need to rebuild the piers including the horrible conditions of 30 and 32 have gone steered away from the excitement and the focus we should be on, hosting the 34 american''s cup, where the greatest sports events we will see. the only international sporting event in 2013 in any part of the u.s. and is coming right here to san francisco. that excites me to no end. it will be the blend of technology with boating and viewed by new technologies to introduce us to generations of new sailors and using our waterfront and our base in the right way. i spoke to larry ellison derica a for a good few moments and we

reiterated our excitement about the race. it is on. it is on for this year. for the smaller boats and next year for the larger boats. we expect hundreds of thousands of people to come to our city and we have figured out with great plants that have been worked on by the event authority and our host committees, all the different plans we have to use properly our open space, our transportation lines and make sure we create the venues that are positive. i want you to know this. the change in a little bit of the investment and the public discourse just is a very i think he reminder of how sensitive we have to be to this whole dialogue about investment. that can go different ways. the thing that i need to make sure we do at the board of supervisors and the mayor's office and all of our departments, keep a strong foundation for economic growth

in the city. keep talking to audiences like you and others who can help us. keep talking to our neighborhoods, making sure that dialogue understands that job creation is about skill and direction. this thing today, prosperity together, sharing it is consistent with what i have been saying throughout the city. we are the city for the 100%. we will work together. i will make sure the city. discourse is positive. we will not forget the foundation that provides us with economic growth. let's move forward and let's move forward together. thank you very much. [applause] >> i guess that makes it clear why mayor lee's approval rating is soaring. thank you, mayor, for your

leadership and vision and since we're running over, i will do just a very quick wrap up. prosperity together as possible. but it is only possible when business, labour, and government work together. that was our theme today. that is the goal for the year ahead. we could not bring new programs like this without our great sponsors. let's get around the's to jpmorgan chase and all our top sponsors -- let's give a round of applause to jpmorgan chase and all our top sponsors. thank you to our board members. thank you for support. it is going to be a great year ahead and think you for coming out this morning. -- thank you for coming out this morning. [applause]

>> we did not expect the house to be so packed tonight, so i apologize for lack of seating in the back. i am inspector john wrote a and chief inspector secretary. -- john monroe. i would like to welcome you to the 2012 middle of valor ceremony. can we all please rise for the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. into the republic, for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. thank you. you can have a seat. i would like to acknowledge and

introduce some of the people we have on the stage with us. first, at the police commission president, thomas mazzucco, commissioner kingsley, paul henderson from the mayor's office as representing because the mayor was unable to come tonight. also, we have commissioner loftus. also, the command at steep. d staff. deputy chief james that lake, lyn tomioka, leanora militello,

and next to lyn commander biel, corrier from field comman. i would like to introduce chief grigory p. suhr. >> good evening, and hopefully lyn still wants to be your boss tomorrow. i know it is quiet and there are a lot of kids in the room. that is terrific. the medal of valor ceremony is the best event that we get to attend. it is when there is a