initiative for the community and it's working. this is helping people chief greater stability so this year we'll make the san francisco law calls laura's law pertinent. it's about public safety arrest despite a year where we experiences to homicides in our city san francisco remains the safest city at levels not seen since the 1960s. one homicide is too many. last year, i i was frustrated like all of you by the rash the homicides and shootings in this very community and i suggested

we need to shack up our efforts for the police and communities to stop this voinsz. i regret the upheaval it started but i don't regret this today. since we launched the ipo we've seen some rules no homicides in august since the last thirty years. and homicides and gun violence down over the first part of the year citywide. thank you to all our police officers that can thank you pastor bryant and to our faiths

leaders. thank you. we need to save young men's lives and we can be safer still. weigh are getting more pollens on your streets. i look forward to sign into law the by an of hallow points bullets. these bullets have no place on our streets. and there's another type of violent crime where often no weapon is involved and that's

domestic violence and abuse which effects whoo too many woman and children in our streets. we must prevent and report domestic abuse. i pledge - and i pledge to continue to working on the pleasantly with our partners in the community to bring to issue the violation that will prevent woman and children >> i'm also proud that under our probation departments and working with police and other city departments san francisco in 2012 has responded to the

challenges a of realignment and intergrating non-violent programs it sport non-violent lives. and just as he must continue to be a healthier city. less than one year our adults will receive health care thanks to president obama and nancycy pelosi. we have a long-standing healthy program and the new international law will extend the program to 3 b thousand san

franciscans. and just as we must keep getting health care and pension reform define we must address the challenge of the unfunded liability area. we're beginning to make progress but we must development a more responsible approach to providing health care to our retired city employees >> and know that together our partners in labor will address this the san francisco way to son sense once in a while.

and finally, we must rebuilt our st. louis hospital in the mission. they're the priors of critical health deliver as well as major employers. members of the board have taken a strong leadership role working with my office to bring a proposal back to the community that delivers jobs and most importantly critical health care for our city were we're going to get it done. and that brings me arrest warrant why we're here today. a college track and education. i hear from businesses that they're number one priority is education. they would like nothing better

to hire san franciscans but they often struggle to find their candidates. and it's clear to me the only way our city will continue to be strong is if we support the improvement of our city schools. in many cities they choose to address the keegs challenges by picking fights and appointing fingers but once again not in 90 san francisco. together we strive for excellence in our public schools not excused. last year, i met with our community leaders the first time in our memories the mayor and

others and we all agree that technology, expediting our kids earlier with the expectation for college and seth them to in our economies is the keys key to success and we're making progress. san francisco unified continues to be the hive urban development are high. we've seen double digit high-grades among our latin and

africa kids >> results are being recognized for our achievement we received a federal grab the to bring job training in our mission neighborhood. the supervisor knows about this. these gains are possible because reforms are underway the partnership are in place. for our kids to succeed in this economy we must do more. that's why this year i will propose in my budgeted more

resources more than $50,000,000,000 and $25 million for preschool activities. i view education as an be investment not an expense. the folk in the road for many kids and many families the point at which they decide they're though stay in san francisco or leave. you're going to hear me talking about this layoff a lot this year. i want our middle squirrels to courthousess choose the road to success notes the road that

leads to trouble or and is the one of the 3 san franciscans who went there know we must continue to preserve our colleges decree - it's important to equip our kids to win in the 20th century you knew. i've offered the schools leadership to continue to go forward. i want to thank you you for working with the state to put city college back on track and r that keeps the opportunity

coming for every san franciscan young person. because hope and opportunity after all are at the heart of the this place the idea we call san francisco. you know, many of us came here from smoip else or their parents did. and whether it was guadalajara or a rural county in texas what brought us here was that hope where in san francisco as most places offered a better life. it was judged by a play we create not by a language we grew up with. we're a city that rewards the

inno matter and the risktaker. fred and harvey ye very and willie brown and nancycy pelosi. we've known our share of adversity, earthquake and the problems with aids. we're not afraid to fail or doing what we know is right. and most importantly we know that none of us succeed alone whether it's in reconcile or business or life. we know as michelle obama said so well, this past summer when you walk through that door of opportunity you don't slam it

shut you help someone else walk through that door behind you. my fellow san franciscans i know there's no limit to the opportunities in this city in we keep the door open. if we commit ourselves and put politics behind us we can help future generations and thank you go

>> i tried to think about this room as the dream room, where we dream and bring some of those dreams to life. i feel very blessed that i have been able to spend the last 31 years of my life doing it my way, thinking about things better interesting to me, and then pursuing them. there are a lot of different artists that come here to work, mostly doing aerial work. kindred spirits, so to speak. there is a circus company that i have been fortunate enough to work with the last couple of years. i use elements of dance and choreography and combine that

with theater techniques. a lot of the work is content- based, has a strong narrative. the dancers have more of a theatrical feel. i think we are best known for our specific work. in the last 15 years, spending a lot of time focusing on issues that affect us and are related to the african-american experience, here in the united states. i had heard of marcus shelby and had been in join his work but never had the opportunity to meet him. we were brought together by the equal justice society specifically for this project. we were charged with beginning work. marquez and i spent a lot of time addressing our own

position on the death penalty, our experiences with people who had been incarcerated, family members, friends of friends. pulling our information. beyond that, we did our own research. to create a picture that resonated with humanity. it is the shape of a house. in this context, it is also small and acts like a cell. i thought that was an interesting play on how these people make these adjustments, half to create home. what is home for these people? the home is their cell. people talk a lot about noise --

very noisy in prisons. that is interesting to me. looking at the communication level, the rise of frustration of being caged, wondering, where does redemption fit into the equation here? [singing] i think both of us really believe the death penalty is wrong, and is flawed for many reasons. the list is as long as my arm -- about several others. we feel this is important for both of us, personally, to

participate in the debate of this issue in a way that we can help people frame it for a conversation. >> a lot a ton with the community and we say to ourselves, there is this one and this one. we all compartmentalize them, we have our own agenda. our agenda is to create great work. if you are interested in that, you are part of our community. >> hello and welcome to brava theater. >> we are trying to figure out a way to make a space where

theater and presentation of live work is something that you think of the same way that you think of going to the movies. of course, it has been complex in terms of economics, as it is for everyone now. artistically, we have done over 35 projects in four seasons, from producing dance, theater, presenting music, having a full- scale education program, and having more than 50,000 visitors in the building almost every year. a lot of our emerging artists to generate their first projects here, which is great. then we continue to try to support figuring out where those works can go. we have been blessed to have that work produced in new york, going on to the edinburgh festival, the warsaw theater festival. to me, those are great things when you can watch artists who think there is nowhere else that might be interested in you

being a woman of color and telling your story and then getting excited about it. that is our biggest accomplishment. having artists have become better artists. what is. sheri coming back to brava, here you have this establish, amazing writer who has won a clue -- slew of awards. now she gets to director and work. even though she is this amazing, established writer, the truth is, she is being nurtured as a director and is being given some space to direct. >> the play is described as ceremony and -- where ceremony and theater me. in the indigenous tradition, when you turn 52, it is like the completion of an important era. the importance of the ceremony is to say, you are 52.

whenever you have been caring for the first 52 years, it is time to let it go. really, here, they have given me carte blanche to do this. i think it is nice for me, in the sense of coming back 25 years later and seeing personally my own evolution as an artist and thinker. the whole effort to put the chicano or indigenous woman's experience on center stage is, in itself, for euro-american theaters, a radical position. because of the state of theater, it is a hard roll to hold up in institution. it is a hard road. i am looking at where we are 25 years later in the bay area, looking at how hard it is for us to strive to keep our theater is going, etc. i like to think that i'm not

struggling quite as hard, personally, but what i mean by that, the intention, the commitment. particularly, to produce works that would not be produced in other places, and also to really nurture women of color artists. i think that is something that has not shifted for me in those 25 years, and it is good to see that brava remains committed to that kind of work. ♪ >> when people talk about the reflection of the community, we can only go from what we have on our staff. we have a south asian managing director, south african artistic director, latino community out rich person. aside from the staff, the other

people, artists that we work with being a reflection of us, yes, the community is changing, but brava has always tried to be ahead of that trend. when i came in, i tried to make it about the work that shows the eclectic mission district, as well as serving the mission. those are the types of things those are the types of things that i feel build one brava is >> feel like it really is a community. they are not the same thing, but it really does feel like there's that kind of a five. everybody is there to enjoy a literary reading. >> the best lit in san francisco. friendly, free, and you might get fed. ♪ [applause]

>> this san francisco ryther created the radar reading series in 2003. she was inspired when she first moved to this city in the early 1990's and discover the wild west atmosphere of open mi it's ic in the mission. >> although there were these open mics every night of the week, they were super macho. people writing poems about being jerks. beatty their chest onstage. >> she was energized by the scene and proved up with other girls who wanted their voices to be heard. touring the country and sharing gen-x 7 as a. her mainstream reputation grew with her novel.

theses san francisco public library took notice and asked her if she would begin carrying a monthly reading series based on her community. >> a lot of the raiders that i work with our like underground writers. they're just coming at publishing and at being a writer from this underground way. coming in to the library is awesome. very good for the library to show this writing community that they are welcome. at first, people were like, you want me to read at the library, really? things like that. >> as a documentary, there are interviews -- [inaudible] >> radar readings are focused on clear culture.

strayed all others might write about gay authors. gay authors might write about universal experiences. the host creates a welcoming environment for everybody. there is no cultural barrier to entry. >> the demographic of people who come will match the demographic of the reader. it is very simple. if we want more people of color, you book more people of color. you want more women, your book more women. kind of like that. it gets mixed up a little bit. in general, we kind of have a core group of people who come every month. their ages and very. we definitely have some folks who are straight. >> the loyal audience has allowed michelle to take more chances with the monthly lineup. established authors bring in an

older audience. younker authors bring in their friends from the community who might be bringing in an older author. >> raider has provided a stage for more than 400 writers. it ranges from fiction to academics stories to academic stories this service the underground of queer fell, history, or culture. >> and there are so many different literary circles in san francisco. i have been programming this reading series for nine years. and i still have a huge list on my computer of people i need to carry into this. >> the supportive audience has allowed michele to try new experiment this year, the radar book club. a deep explorationer of a single work. after the talk, she bounces on

stage to jump-start the q&a. less charlie rose and more carson daly. >> san francisco is consistently ranked as one of the most literate cities in the united states. multiple reading events are happening every night of the year, competing against a big names like city arts and lectures. radar was voted the winner of these san francisco contest. after two decades of working for free, michelle is able to make radar her full-time job. >> i am a right to myself, but i feel like my work in this world is eagerly to bring writers together and to produce literary events. if i was only doing my own work, i would not be happy. it is, like throwing a party or a dinner party. i