>> look, thanks everybody for being here. i've been, as indicated, i've been looking for a good announcement ever since sunday night. we definitely found one. but i want to thank the board of supervisors. i know you're proud of your colleague for all of her accomplishments. also with our other official city family, dennis herrera is here, phil tate, of course, took a time away from sacramento to be down here. thank you, phil, for being here. i know we have a representative from betty yee office, board of equalization that has oversight on assessor's office across the state.

jose cisneros, treasurer of state. you sent david augustine. ben rosenfield, our controller, [speaker not understood], our budget director, of course. and then harvey, thank you for being here as well. and just all the members of the board that are here today. i think nadia is trying to get down here as soon as she finishes the final ratings on other companies. but i first of all -- it really is a necessity to have someone at the helm of the assessor's office. i personally want to thank zoom wynn who has been in that transition for us. she's a real delight to have work with in this time period. she's held the office together and i want to thank her permly for being here today. (applause) >> a great job.

you know, it comes as no surprise probably for all of us that i've chosen carmen. carmen has been willing to step up to be the assessor. if you look at what she's done and has been at the helm of our budget committee and working with my office and all the financial entities, of course, truly representing the board at the budget office last couple years. we've done a tremendous amount of good work together and she's made that connection that i have often spoke about in working with the board together on the budgets and making sure we cover all the interests and needs. but also being very fiscally smart and brilliant in her efforts to help me do the first of two-year budgeting for the city, which is incredibly important. and i'll say later on why it means so much to rating

agencies and others that we do even better fiscally. but at the same time we had in my first year 385 million dollar deficit. we were able to cover that through her leadership at the board. of course, all the board's cooperation. she also did it similar to the ways that i've been wanting to do it with the board, that is work with everybody, labor, our advocates, our nonprofits have all been recognized in the strong effort while we as people who are fiscally responsible for the health of our city balanced everything, and that is why i think we talk a lot about our success today. and i want to point to the fact that i think one of the reasons why moody's perhaps made their move to upgrade our ratings was because they heard the rumor mill already about who we're about to appoint. [laughter] >> they wanted to reinforce that.

but it's an incredible thing. i amoeba, -- mean, i think other cities are challenged by their ratings and we in the city working together, all of us sacrificing what we've done and having good discussions, are turning it around not only for us, but for future generations. and, so, i am pleased to announce carmen as the new assessor and that she will lead the effort there to do what phil ting did and so many others before them, is help us generate and get the revenues that we need, do it in an efficient, an expert professional way, and enhance the staff's hope and belief that not only do we have a good manager at the helm, but a good partner with the rest of the fiscal leads in the city that are doing all the right thing and conversing in the right tone. this is so important these days

to register a whole city family of professionals to talk with, not only rating agencies, but with our counterparts in the federal government and the state government who sometimes are challenged themselves about what they should be doing so that we don't get hurt by them. and i know carmen is going to be a great leader and a great partner. she's demonstrated that for quite sometime as being a very effective supervisor over district 4 as well as heading up the budget committee. so, with that i know she's going to get it all done and let me just take this opportunity right now to introduce carmen chiu, our new assessor, and then we'll talk about the process. (applause)

>> first off, i want to thank you all here for being here. for me, i've been an elected official for a little bit of time, but it never ceases to amaze me how nervous you get when you have all these cameras and people watching you. but i do want to thank you all for being here. i want it really thank all of my colleagues on the board who have taken the time under such short notice to be here with me today. of course, for all the electeds who are here city-wide, dennis, phil of course for being here and taking time out of sacramento for being here, our city administrator for being he, kate howard from the budget office and doing such a wonderful job and stepping in and being here, too. i want to thank you all. and harvey, now i have to turn roles and be a little bit afraid of you. [laughter] >> but i do want to thank everybody for being here and

being so supportive. it really humbles me that you are here, you've taken the time to be here to have the confidence to support me in this new adventure. to the mayor, i want to thank you. it's been really my honor, it's been my privilege to serve the people of district 4, to serve san francisco residents. and i take a look at this new opportunity and this new responsibility and really feel honored and privileged to be able to lead this new department as well. to all the finance folks who are here, my heart, my heart beat, of course to the controller's office, to the mayor's budget office, to harvey rose, to all the folks who are -- and the treasurer who i know couldn't be here today, but is sending his greetings from d.c., i really look forward to working with you. i think that we are only stronger working together and that the financial health of the city, being able to build a solid foundation, the unique role each of us plays in making sure that happens is really something we can all work towards. all the things that we care

about, being able to fund public services, being able to fund police services, children services, health services, these are all things that can only be accomplished when we have a very firm financial footing. so, i really look forward to that real responsibility and making sure that we're doing this together. i think with the solid foundation that assemblyman phil ting has set and the final work zoon has done stepping up in the leadership organization in the transition, i take the responsibility with humbleness. i really look forward to working in the department to getting myself right into it, to taking a look at the nuts and bolts of that organization. of course, to ensure to folks that our assessments are fair, that we have transparent processes within the assessor's office, to make sure that our office continues to operate in the highest ethical manner, that is something i think we all expect of all our offices and all our operations. of course i vow to work tirelessly to continue to make improvements. every step that we take to

improve our process for the residents is really a public service. and, so, i just want to keep my comments short. i want to thank you all so much for your support. i look forward to this new challenge and take on the responsibility with a lot of humility, humbleness, and with a lot of respect for everything that people have done here. so, thank you again. (applause) >> i almost did this twice. i almost forgot to thank scott, my husband. [laughter] >> when i was first sworn in the first time around, i forgot to mention and thank him. [laughter] >> but i want to thank scott. he's been a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful partner. the strength behind everything, so, i just want to thank him. and of course thanks to my staff, thank you so much for everything. (applause)

>> okay. so, of course, we wanted this announcement to stand on its own, but clearly carmen has been a great supervisor for the city. and now that we've made this announcement, i next have to make a decision on her replacement for district 4 and be prepared to do that through a process that will include stakeholders getting certainly carmen's input, community input. and we're setting our target for at least by no later than march 4th. so, be about 30 days from now, and that will give time for the various staffs to adjust. and carmen would like to immediately take helm of the agency and start, because these are really good times for the fiscal responsibility of that

office to take heed. but we do want to do as thorough a job to find her replacement and that's why we want to just suggest that let's celebrate today and we'll give ourselves 30 days to do the right process and meet with as many people as we can and get a good representative for district 4 and honor what all of these supervisors do every single day, and that is serve their constituents well and work with the city and do everything from compromising to advocating,ing to representing the whole city well as we've all done together. so, with that, we'll take a few questions. not too political, please. [laughter] >> and we'll start with, we'll start with -- we were just five yards away. [laughter] >> [speaker not understood]. you were interested in a job because you were [speaker not understood]. can you just tell us other than

that factor, what is it about the assessor's job that you find appealing? [speaker not understood]. [laughter] >> i think phil and z might disagree with that, and, of course, the fine people in the assessor's office would disagree with that. i think before my role i came in the board of supervisors, i worked in the mayor's office and nuts and bolts with regard to the budget and focusing on the long term couldn't point for the city. for me, all the things we want to accomplish, really when it is trying it make our neighborhoods safer, whether it is trying to provide those after school services for kids, whether it's the health department and the emergency services that we have for the city, all of that really takes having a firm financial footing. if we continue to move down the cycle of having lots of cuts in

the budget and not being able to to have sort of a solid foundation and move forward with, it makes things -- makes the provision of services and what people rely on so much harder. so, for me i've always been interested in that. that's why with david chiu's support and my colleagues' support, i've been at the board of supervisors budget committee four out of the five years i was there, r two years as a budget chair simply because i think some of those fundamental maybe boring topics really need to be focused on. and, so, for the assessor's office, i don't think at all it is boring. i think it's necessary to make sure that we focus on it and do it well and do it fairly. again, it brings in about $800 million worth of revenues for the city and that is not a small amount. so, we want to make sure that we continue to be strong in that department, that we continue to do what we can to make sure we support the city's operations. so, i think it's a fundamental piece of our city's operations. >> let me add, too, i don't know if any of you certainly think harvey rose knows and others, if you've been in the

room -- this is why i made the link to moody's. i was in the room with kate and all the fiscal people in the city, controller's office when we were getting reviewed by mood yes's and standard & poor's and other ratings, they throw questions at you. it is literally much more than an interview. it is kind of like a deposition. what do you have set up? what are you doing about this? what are you trying -- all of it is about economic and financial confidence in the city. and they're asking all these questions from the debt to general fund to reserves to how much you keep, what you're going to spend, what's the state going to do to you, what's the fed going to do to you. i think after going through that for the last couple years, we need someone like carmen heading up an office that might in the external be quiet and unassuming, but they are an incredible part of the confidence building that we need to have in the city. and you have to actually be in

those depositions with those rating companies in order to understand how important that is. because if they don't see our internal team taking care of business and demonstrating that on an every quarterly basis, on an every year basis, now it's poring through everything we do on an annual basis and every two years, the ratings are going to be low. because of all the other things that are happening in and around us. so, we've taken care of business. that's why i think we're viewed very differently than all the other cities i think in the state of california. yes. >> [speaker not understood]. [speaker not understood]? >> qualities, it's standing right next to me. so, in terms of public service,

follow through, i mean, carmen has demonstrated very thoroughly in that district what it takes to be an effective supervisor. and the things that i have seen her do, i mean, she's hauled me out to merchant walks, to coffees on weekends, to garbage pick ups, to work along sunset boulevard picking up dead trees and fallen trees. and then talking with people down at the java coffee shop on noriega and finding out what's wrong with muni and how come they have these turn arounds which they hate out there. i mean, you just get into every single nitty-gritty thing that i think probably every supervisor does. i've done that with the other supervisors as well. and you have to just bring that back in, absorb it, make sure we're responding and make sure all the other department heads that i get the privilege working on, responding every single day to those issues and making people's lives feel that

they're improving and see the improvements. so, i think that's what it takes and you got to have the trust in it so that people are saying this is the person i want to invest in. that's what i'm looking at. again, i'm not going to go but for the comments that i made earlier, there are people interested in this position and i'll do the appropriate interviews and take a look at them. at the same time they have to be looking at the standards that have already been created. it seems to have been a high standard created for district [speaker not understood]. >> [speaker not understood]. >> are they key votes you want to tell me about? [laughter] >> i'll tell you later. >> you'll tell me later. >> [speaker not understood]. >> yeah, please. >> i want to thank you for that question. i think just as much as it is important for me during this

period to transition and speak with folks at the assessor's office and really hit the ground running, i've never stopped working for district 4. and i think david can speak to this and my colleagues can speak to this. they ask, why are you still introducing items at the board of supervisors? aren't you done yet? when are you gone? [laughter] >> for me, i'm going to work until the last minute i am the district 4 supervisor to make sure i serve the residents there. when i came into the office, it was my commitment to make sure that i served district 4 well. that's why every piece of knowing what's happening with the merchant corridors, knowing what's happening with muni, understanding all the different aspects and problems people may face in district has been my priority. so, i don't intend to stop doing that until the very last minute. >> [speaker not understood]. >> thank you. i think there's a lot to point to in my district.

we really focus on the infrastructure and investments within our community. so, taking a look at what has happened with our play grounds, our libraries, these are all things that i'm incredibly happy to say that we've made wonderful improvement on and people actually see physical differences. but i think within city hall, the area that i'm always sort of the love of my work is really around the budget and fiscal responsibility. and, so, i think it's being honored to be able to serve on the board's budget and finance committee really helping that process go through and recently the last two years as chair really helping that process to move forward smoothly, making sure that we are putting the right attention we need to into a five-year planning process, making sure that we have our first two-year budget go off without a hitch. are things that i feel incredibly proud of. and those are all things that i couldn't have done alone. again, all of my colleagues who are here and were with me before for those years and, of course, to my staff, they really helped to make that all happen as a city. so, i think that really bodes well not only with the leadership of our existing board and the boards that have

come before, but it really shows there is really this unifying understanding of how important it is to have that solid foundation. >> thank you. (applause) ...

happy new year, everybody. i love the fact that we are doing a tournament here at the center. when i was in eighth grade i played on a basketball teechl. team. i have to admit i wasn't very good at it. i always aspired to be an nba player. regardless of playing in college or nba, i expect many of you have be leading us

because of the leadership skills you are learning on >> i think it ae's public and private property. i'm against graffiti. >> who can get it out the most who can be noticed the most. >> i i've seen seniors doing graffiti. >> the city is art, other people who have their names tag -- >> [inaudible] our unit there are 2 sections we are doing one is abating and others are notice of violation to private

property. all the utility boxes in public right-of-way we abate. >> we abate calls that come within 48 hours. >> we are a small group in g f graffiti. we don't have enough help. >> i have a group in town down and china town and the north tunnel. [inaudible] the graffiti we abate everything is coming up to the areas now. >> i'm willing to take it on. i think -- >> you are telling me you are ready for this? >> i think so. >> okay. >> there you go. >> all right. >> all right. >> ready to do it. let's go. >> want to get the gray signses this over here and the garbage can and normally we don't do

private property since it's on the corridor route you can come with me we will use black. >> we had a lot of changes in the graffiti unit. we do private property if someone moved we remove it and send it to the attorney's office and they take appropriate action. >> damage their property there. it's important to write the color in case they want to say what part of our house you abated the graffiti on. >> using your safety glasses the gloves. >> you got it. >> you know some places we gashi, people appreciate that.

you know, a lot of timeses they say, thank you. >> the time where it's visible. a lot of people put it on the ground. >> i like when tourists come and say, you do this for your city and you get paid for that? >> we use the [inaudible] for the holes and the retaining walls. [inaudible]. white on the fire hydrants. fire box red for the fire boxes. our brown for the pg and e poles. >> we are not painters we do

our best. >> i'm assuming it has to do with gang activity. >> if it's territorial i mind. >> in case it's gang related and they are marking our territory i would like to paint it over. >> anything with numbers like x iv or x 13 west side mob and the bay view those are gang related. with gang related or profanity we will abait it as soon as possible. >> i consider it an art. there are circles of people that form around it whether or not they should ruin public property. >> this is art work i'm for it. unless it's on someone's

property and they don't want it there. judge kids with silver paint expressing their ego needs doesn't belong on our property. >> graffiti is when you don't have permission to write anything on their property. >> eighth street is part of your regular rout? >> yes. >> everyday. >> eighth street. divisidero street. irving street. every block they going through they paint 3 or 4 streets in the block the poles the utility boxes, mailbox. >> thank you. >> okay. >> put the drop cloth. come on around. >> there you go. force for we have to remember we

are not painters we abate graffiti. we are abaters not painters. get that out of the way and keep moving. >> how many of these do you do a day? how many poles we do a day? >> yeah. >> depends on the location. may be 20. >> do you like working with the team? >> yes because i'm a people person. i like being outside and interacting with the public and i like the response we get especially from the good job we do in the community. >> goodbye.