just be mindful that you're not on this journey or in this fight all alone. you always have your families, have your, you know, friends, have the mayor, have the elected officials here, have everybody in the community behind you to achieve your dream. just, you know, congratulations. always remember, you know, it's not always going to be just moments of celebrations. there will be moments of you feeling very tired. you will feel you have setbacks, you have heart breaks. but, you know, you have a village here. the village by the beautiful name of san francisco working to be here for you. thanks again. (applause) >> and now our last speaker who is the superintendent of san francisco unified school

district, mr. richard karanza. (applause) >> so, good afternoon, good morning, congratulations to the class of 2013. how about another round of applause for them, huh? this is great. (applause) >> anything that i could add would just be redundant. i mean, when you hear the mayor speak, when you hear supervisor breed speak about her experience, i just want you to understand that where you start is only where you start, right. it's how you finish and how you finish strong. we are so proud of the fact that you're all leaving here today, you already have a diploma that says san francisco unified school district, right? that's your gate -- that's your ticket, that's your key to the future. and only you know what that future is going to be. i want you to come back and take my job, seriously. you need to do that to give back to our community. now, a couple of you asked, so, what happened, why are you on crutches? i could tell you, except i promised carl that i wouldn't talk about our audition game

when i had to go one on one with him. [laughter] >> aside from that, mayor lee said he's somebody taller than supervisor wiener. well, he's met somebody shorter than supervisor wiener, too. so, all i want to say to you, is somebody gave me great advice once when they said, when you give remarks, keep it real and keep it real short. so, i'm going to keep it real short and we're looking forward to giving you your certificates. and again, congratulations. we're looking forward to you taking the world by storm. congrats. (applause) >> and we now have two announcements. i'm going to have ms. linda martin from the housing authority and mr. justin davis come up to the stage. (applause) >> good morning. the san francisco housing authority would like to present five graduates with a scholarship to assist with the

expenses of higher education. these graduates have been accepted into two or four-year colleges. a big thank you first of all from the housing authority does go to our graduates because you are now examples, both in your families and your communities and in san francisco. so, without further ado, the first scholarship goes to mariana sanders who has been accepted to sweet buyer college in virginia. (applause) >> the second scholarship goes to juan, attending a two-year college. (applause) >> the third scholarship goes to gregory sail bury who has also been accepted and attending a two-year college. (applause) ~ >> the fourth scholarship goes to deja moore who has been accepted and attending san francisco state university.

(applause) >> okay, juan has to be here. juan jones who has been accepted and attending city college. [cheering and applauding] >> the other checks will be mailed. thank you. [cheering and applauding] >> congratulations. and now we will hear from mr. justin davis who is the program manager of the college bound

brotherhood [speaker not understood] for social impact. (applause) >> congratulations, lauren. wow. so, this announcement is really for you and some of your other fellow african-american graduates. [speaker not understood] formerlyedth mission k-4 foundation. we are based in oakland, california. we just moved there from san francisco. i actually make the community -- not really. but nonetheless, in san francisco, i'm glad to be here to make the announcement. june 19th we're going to recognize african-american young men who have graduated high school and are going to college. this is an annual event that we host. we are very proud to be putting it together and recognizing young black men. so, this is a call announcement for all the young brothers who

are graduating from the college, your friends, family to come out, support these young men. juan, we have something special for you and all other young participants, a $100 gift card just for coming out, participating. (applause) >> [speaker not understood]. so, i know how much $100 can carry you when you're hungry at night, pizza, laundry, whatever, whatever you need it for, we have it. we just ask that you participate. i'll have more information in the back. for folks who want information, it is the url brotherhood grad celebration 2013.event.com or you can go to the website, k4 center dug.org, june 19th at the oakland museum in california. thank you. (applause) >> and now we will do the distribution of the certificates of honor. so, if superintendent karanza

and mendosa who is a member of the board of education and the senior advisor to education come up. oh, and mr. landry, i'm sorry, you need to stay here, too. >> good morning, everyone. congratulations, graduates. what a wonderful day today. so, we're going to go through. come on down. we've got some hands to shake, if we can get david and london, do you mind coming over and shaking some hands with us, that would be great. don't stand near carl, though, because he's really tall. [laughter] >> so, our first graduate is alicia amagan. come on over, alicia. (applause) >> our next graduate yatzia f.

chan. congratulations. (applause) >> our next graduate, franklin buchanan, mr. buchanan, congratulations. [cheering and applauding] [laughter] >> yeah, nice hat. (applause) >> our next graduate, joseph cain. where are you, joseph? come on down, mr. cain. (applause) >> congratulations.

our next graduate, stefana cobb. ms. cobb, where are you? congratulations. (applause) >> take that applause. our next graduate, quincy collins, mr. collins, congratulations. (applause) >> our next graduate, juan jones. mr. jones, recipient of a scholarship, congratulations, mr. jones. [cheering and applauding]

>> our next graduate, chaie louie. did i pronounce it right? did i pronounce your name right? come here and tell me your name. i'm so sorry. >> [inaudible]. >> [speaker not understood]. sorry. (applause) >> our next graduate, john mcdonald. [cheering and applauding] >> mr. mcdonald, congratulations. yeah. (applause)

>> that's wonderful. our next graduate, chantelle mc neil. ms. mc neil, come on down. congratulations. (applause) >> our next graduate, ashley nash. ms. nash, congratulations. (applause) >> our next graduate, francois

palette, congratulations. (applause) >> that's great, congratulations. our next graduate, caitlin perkins-council. ms. perkins-council. (applause) >> our next graduate, maurice ross. mr. ross, congratulations. (applause) [cheering and applauding] >> nice.

our next graduate, naja skinner. ms. skinner, congratulations. [cheering and applauding] >> smile for mom, that's great. our next graduate, yesinia valez. ms. valez, congratulations. [cheering and applauding] >> our next graduate, alana

waldron. ms. waldron, congratulations. (applause) >> our next graduate, angela garape. ms. garape, congratulations. (applause) >> and our next graduate, anye

she. ms. she, congratulations. (applause) >> ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the class of 2013! [cheering and applauding] >> can you guys stand up? stand up, show us, yeah! [cheering and applauding] >> we have one more graduate i want to bring down. mr. landsers, willie landers, come on down. [cheering and applauding] ~

[cheering and applauding] >> another one? one more, one more. wait a minute, they keep coming. they keep coming. more and more graduates. mr. eldon, andrei eldon. my bad, andrei hilton. congratulations. (applause) >> all right, for real, though, this time, let's give it up for our class of 2013. (applause) >> i want to thank superintendent karanza, our golden state warrior carl

landry and our supervisors breed and president chiu. thank you, christina. your staff for an amazing event. we want to kristine johnson all the parents, teacher, principals who came out to celebrate our kids. congratulations, everyone. please stay and join us for refreshments and congratulating our graduates. ...

>> the most ribbon cutting and most ribbon cuttings, we keep everybody off limits and then we cut the ribbon and then stuff happens. you can't stop them. you can only hope to contain them in there so we're going to let everybody continue to play. so, it's been said that, that success has many, many, many parents and there are many parents, many people who have contributed to this outstanding, outstanding effort. we are so, so proud of this project and so thrilled to be able to give a new face to lafayette park. this park has tremendous history, from a city attorney who claimed ownership of 12 acres in the 1860s, holiday

hill, how many know about holiday hill? right? where the city attorney actually thought he owned a piece of this. to a professor who set up the first astronomical observatory on the west coast here in 1879. to the hundreds of people who call this park home after the 1906 earthquake, to controversial mind troops. to controversial park renovations. lafayette park has many stories to tell. but its views, locations and one of the city's most desirable neighborhoods in the city, it has -- this park has a way of igniting people's passions about green space. and we've got the permit appeals to prove it. yea! >> it is this passion that made la fay it park what it is today. and i want to talk about the community and partnership involved. so, in 2008 san francisco voter displayed their passion for this park by approving an $185 million bond to improve parks,

rec centers and play grounds like this one all across the city. more than $10 million of that bond were invested here in lafayette park and you're going to see even more improvements around the city as we start implementing the 2012 parks bond. yeah. (applause) >> by the way, if you're wearing a rec and park sticker today, raise your hand. yeah, woo, look at that. but government can't do it alone, we know that, right? and it's the passion of groups like the friends of lafayette park and the friends of lafayette park playground (applause) >> which has been with us every step of the way offering leadership, guidance, and support throughout the process. the friends group stepped up to help us make this beautiful, beautiful playground a reality and other you're going to be hearing more about that in a little bit. but it's also people like jeff miller who contributed all of the architectural services for this gem pro bono. [cheering and applauding]

>> but it's also the passion of our elected officials on the state and local level who you're going to hear from in a little bit including senator leno, assemblyman phil king, our mayor. (applause) >> our recreation and park commissioners megan levitt son is here. our district 2 supervisor mark farrell. [cheering and applauding] >> our district 8 supervisor and park champion, tallest park champion in the city, scott wiener. (applause) >> our district 11 supervisor and another park champion extraordinary narc, john avalos. (applause) >> our city treasurer who does his work to make sure we've actually got the funds to pull this off, jose cisneros. (applause) ~ >> but it's the passion of all of us. and i also want to give a big shout out to the entire city

family for their role, mohammed nuru and folks at department of public works had a role, lindsay hirsch. (applause) >> with all due respect to dpw and everybody else who is here, the hardest working staff in government is rec and park. gk, construction manager, mary hobson, project manager. [cheering and applauding] >> director of capital planning, don. our great operations staff, zach taylor, judy auberry who is here, and everyone else who has contributed to this incredible project. so, at rec and park, we're encoloneling people to get out and play. that's our tag line, get ready, 1, 2, 3. >> get out and play. >> we say that because of the importance of keeping our families active and healthy. this is a real serious issue. according to the center for

disease control, childhood obesity has more than doubled in our children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. in 2010 more than one-third of our children were overweight or obese. it is important that we get our kids outside. our children today average over 7-1/2 hours behind a screen. listen to that. 7-1/2 hours behind a screen, less than 30 minutes a day outside. that has to change. and this playground helps get it done. and i wanted to just offer a quick quote from richard lu who is the author of a book called the nature principle which encourage uz us to reconnect with nature and create a balance between nature and the ever evolving world of technology. ~ he says imagine a world in which all children grow up with a deep understanding of the life around them, where obesity is reduced through nature play, where children experience the joy of being in nature before they learn of its loss. where they can lie on the grass on a hillside for hours, and

watch clouds become the faces of the future. where every child and every adult has a human right to a connection to the natural world and shares the responsibility for caring for it. that's the community, that's the world, that's the park that all of you have created today. and i want to say that while we're here looking at this amazing playground which, by the way, has the world's -- i'm not kidding -- the world's longest monkey bars. >> woo-hoo! >> and as the father of a daughter who has broken not one, but two arms on monkey bars, i'm extremely fired up about that. (applause) >> but this park is more than just the playground. for those of you who are here with your kids and you're here for the playground opening, make sure you take a stroll up the hill. the view corridor that has been created as a result of this incredible park design, lindsay, and this incredible work, mary, it's stunning. you can see all the way --

today you can see all the way into marin. you can see the entire bay. the tennis courts, the area, the amphitheater where the mime troop historically performed, the off-leash dog area, the benches on our hillside. we have created together a park that is truly extraordinary. it is a piece of art. and we are just also proud that we've been able to do this together. so, give yourselves a big, big round of applause. (applause) >> so, i'd like -- i'm going to get back up and introduce some other speakers and we have some gifts we're going to present in a little bit. but i'm going to start -- i'm going to kick the program off by bringing up our state senator. everybody here knows mark leno. but what you may not know is how committed and how tireless mark is to fighting for kids and families and parks and open spaces. it's not always on the front

page of the paper. he's often doing it behind the scenes in ways that not everybody knows. mark is a true advocate for families. he is a true advocate for parks. a true advocate for green space. and it is my great pleasure to bring him up now. (applause) >> thank you, phil. let's hear it for parks cheer leader and chief phil ginsberg. (applause) >> it is a real pleasure to be with everyone here today. it takes a village and the village is out. it's not often we get to say the words "our tax dollars at work" with a smile on our face. but we're doing it today. because voters really knew what they were doing a few years back when we passed that $185 million parks bond, neighborhood parks bond and the $10 million invested into lafayette park. i used to live at hyde and geary my first four years when i moved to san francisco, now 36 years ago, and this was my neighborhood park. and i've loved it ever since.

the combination of the palms and the pines and everything in between, this is a jewel of a park. and when i saw the fences go up i got a little nervous because, well, it was going to be closed for a while. and i saw on some of the signs that some trees were going to come down which always makes me a little uncomfortable. but now seeing the result, it is magnificent. and, so, i want to thank all the folks who have invested their time and their efforts to make sure that the tennis courts got their renovation and the pathways were upgraded, the a-d-a improvements, of course, this extraordinary playground for our kids, the improved lighting which will make it all safer. and i'm glad, phil, that you mentioned the fact of this epidemic of childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes. you know, one in eight of us today will experience type 2 diabetes, but a generation from now that means kids here today, if we don't change course, 1 in 3, there are predictions in

every californian will have diabetes by 20 50 which will completely overwhelm our already taxed health care system. so, get out and play is more than just some words. it's something we must do. it's for us to make sure that our little ones have the benefit of parks like these all over the city. so, to carina jones who led the fund-raising for the playground and lynn new house seigel who led the fund-raising for the friends of the park, and folks at dpw mohammed nuru, phil, your team. it's a thrill to be with my colleagues on the board of supervisors who lead the charge every day to make san francisco a better place. i've got proclamations for all the folks i just mentioned. thanks again for being here and celebrate this beautiful day here at lafayette park. (applause) >> so, mark, we have a little parting gift for you to commemorate this great day. and to encourage you to get out

here and take this and play with us. we have a lafayette playground sign and a rec and park picnic blanket for you to enjoy. congratulations. (applause) >> thank you. next time we need a park bond. while you go to the voters, i'm going to call sean parker. [laughter] >> thank you, mark. all right. i mentioned there are a variety of city departments here. i want to give a shout ought to battalion chief williams from station 38. where are you, chief? there she is. (applause) >> and i think we have some activities going on over there. i also want to give a big thank you to fire commissioner and lafayette park champion don. where is don? (applause) >> he's actually playing on the swings. [laughter] >> all right. next up, it does take great leadership from our elected leaders and another true example at the state level for us has been phil king. also he's on the state assembly. he's that young dad with two kids and uses our parks and

play grounds all the time. he couldn't be here, but i have [speaker not understood] to say a very brief word to present a proclamation. thank you. >> thank you so much, phil. i'm here on behalf of assembly member tang as phil mentioned. this is a wonderful park truly an effort on behalf of the community. we're here on behalf of the state assembly to present proclamations to the friends of lafayette park, rec and park, dpw, and carina as well. thank you so much, bill, and we'll be handing these out. >> thank you all. clap lap (applause) >> all right. ~ next on the line up, batting third, if you l he's the district 2 supervisor. he's a dad, he's a playground lover. he's a half decent athlete and he is a true, true, true advocate for our parks. representing the board and mark what i think i'm going to do is give you the mic and have scott