another family. we have people living in garages, people renting rooms. people say that there is a parking problem. we have a housing problem in district 11. it is hard for a city like san francisco to deal with, but we have to figure out how we can improve the housing situation for these people living in the sub standard situations. >> what about the issue of homelessness? what are your ideas on dealing with this? >> we have a long-term plan to combat homelessness through a continual of care. it looks at economics, housing stock, health care support, and all those pieces need to be part of our deal with homelessness in san francisco. on the public health side, we need to make sure we have services that are going to help people stabilize their lives, how they can access mental health services, substance abuse

services. a lot of people on the street are suffering from a disease of alcoholism, drug dependency. a lot of them are there because they have lost their jobs, housing. some of them are there because of hiv. that is one cause -- one part of the homeless population, but also, being homeless makes you more susceptible to contract in hiv. so we need to look at the public health system to make sure we can do our work around finding resources to get people to understand how they need to live more healthy. housing is an issue. i like the idea of building more supportive housing that can help people have a room but also these other services i have mentioned, so that they can be stable in their housing. it is probably -- i would like to think that we can get over it, but building the housing

stock, having an economy with enough jobs for people where it can be stable, services on the health side is what it will take. homelessness has been an issue that is always a perennial issue that people are using in campaigns, what they are going to do to resolve the homeless issue. sometimes, i see them being scapegoat as the cause of a problem, but we need to think of it in a compassionate way, how we can provide real care that will help people turn their lives around. the success is how we are able to help people to make the changes in their lives where they can have housing, a job, independent living, where there are free of the services that we helped them to maintain that level of freedom. >> what about the challenges that you face in your district, the on met challenges? what about those issues? >> one of the biggest issues is jobs. young people finding work.

i was just talking with the director of the department of children, youth, and families, talking about doing outreach to businesses to see how we can encourage some incentives to hire young people. that is a big issue. a lot of people are coming from families where they have one or two parents who could be unemployed. often, kids need to bring in money to the family. that is some pressure. a small minority of kids get involved in thing that may bring in money that are not good for our community. not very healthy. maybe dealing drugs. it is not a big issue in my district, but it is there. there are enough opportunities for young people to engage in sports, recreation, and jobs, other activities. i am excited about the ocean view neighborhood. we have a new wreck center.

the city foundation is looking at putting in some artificial turf there. i consider that a great opportunity where you can build sports programs, softball, baseball, soccer, football, getting people involved in productive things that are good for them. help them feel that they had good skills to contribute. from that sense of confidence, they can have success in other parts of their life, relationships with other people. i think those are beneficial for young people. i am excited to see these services come into my district. >> what are your thoughts on the city's economic development. are we on the right track? >> we need to do what we can to create the conditions for attracting businesses here. i am not necessarily in support of doing away with our payroll tax to attract businesses -- to give a payroll tax exemption for

new hires is not a good policy. changing from a payroll tax to a gross receipts tax, where it is not based on the number of employees you have and how much they are paid, but how much business you have, your business, is a better tax structure that does not harm businesses to hire more people. harman is a strong word, but does not attach the tax to your number of employees. it is a better structure, i believe. we do a lot of things to support businesses. muni improvements happening downtown, in the more distant parts of the city. supporting businesses. infrastructure we are putting in, sidewalks, lighting.

all of this is important to businesses. lots of concentration on that in the downtown area. i see it as one of the big thing that we offer. we also have a pretty city. that attracts a lot of businesses. we have certain parts of the city that have really great thinking going on. you see california, as of state. our hospitals attract a lot of minds and attention. -- uc california, sf state. >> it looks like we are just about of time. thank you for being on your district supervisor. we have been talking to supervisor at a loss from district 11. join us next time when we will be back with one of our 11 mr. supervisors. -- we have been talking to supervisor john avalos from

district 11. join us next time when we will be back with one of our on beha commission. we are just proud to be a part of this great community event. >> we started this 3 years ago, this thing called met pole. it was part of sunday to participate in a pedestrian oriented family way. 3 years later. the ping-pong festival has taken on by itself and wanted to take on the diplomacy

for china and also to focus on a community of youth, family and seniors to play ping-pong and pick up this exercise for all to participate in this community. a long time ago when i was little, i played for years on and off. now from the master, the station, he's been getting me back into ping-pong. i'm excited to play with the mayor and everybody else today. >> mr. wong said it was a tough match. it was very exciting when it got to two. you didn't know who was going to win. and then he has some from his friends on the side to win

this match. >> he's really good. a little bit better than i expected. we'll have a rematch later on. >> even though in the beginning level, it was really competitive against the police department and he takes it like a great relationship with the community. >> playing with table tennis club since 1997. i'm one of the founders of this club and now our members starting from 7 people to now more than 200 members. >> i have been playing ping-pong for about 8 months. my dad taught me how to play ping-pong and i have watched it on computers and then i tried it myself. >> a lot of people like this sport and it's increasing a lot of the members. >> i think all of the different

youth and seniors and families really get something out of this. it is also a way to participate. it's great to have so many organizations that are reflective of what they do everyday and come out and play ping-pong. >> >> i understand the mayor is on a tight schedule. i would like mr. mayor to come up, please and say a few words. thank you. >> thank you. officer monroe. good evening, everyone. this is a really happy occasion, and i did when chief suhr notified me that this would be happ happening. i wanted to be sure i put in

time to come before you for a brief moment and share my appreciation for the police force. to the commissioners and president mazzucco and the commission, and to the staff and awardees tonight. i know there is 41 of you out there with family and friends. but i want to say to the 2,000 sworn men and women in the san francisco police force. i am very proud of you, and as hard as i work, i know there are people that work harder than i, and i don't put my life on the line every day when i go out there. but for a world-class city to have this status as one of the best cities to live in, and work in and visit. you have to have a police force

that rises to world-class standards. and the san francisco police department is world-class standard. tonight with the recognition of the medals of valor, we continue, i think, a very important culture. a culture that is measured by the performance of its officers and those who tonight exceed that standard in every way. and you know, it's kind of hard for me to get to know everyone up to 2,000 officers that work in our police department. i do see the results though. and i don't think we could have landed the bid for the super bowl hosting 50 without a world class department. we could not have landed the americus cup in san francisco, without the signaling of the best police department in the country. we could not have landed so many of these world-class events and

continue the pride of being one of the fastest recovering cities in all of our country without a good police force. and so i made it a point tonight to come here and to let you know, i may not know each of the officers allegiance to your favorite baseball team or favorite football team or favorite basketball team. but i will before i am done. because i do know that we share in common the success of this city. i know that on a daily basis, whether you are walking the neighborhoods of south of market or tenderloin and bay-view or any number of neighborhoods, you are doing the best you can. you are looking out for people. and i know that as the mayor of this city, we also got your back covered as well. because we don't have each other back's covered, we don't have

the trust that we need to have to move forward in this city. i want to say thank you to each of the 2,000 men and women that serve in this police department. the commission. the commanding staff. the police officer's association that works closely with all of us as well. and not only thank you to all of you, but tonight for those who have earned the medal of valor. you know it's important to have these events because the particular event that caused the bravery to occur, are no longer on the front pages of our newspapers. but they are in our memories. in the men and women, the people you work alongside. the family and friends and commissioners, they know who you are. and the rest of the city, 26,000 people that work for this city, we also know who has put themselves on the line to save others, to bring more

efficiencies to the city, to bring pride and who you tutor, the kids, the extra time it takes to get at-risk youth to turn their heads. and to make a pause and suggest a better life. the extra hours that the officers put in, all of you, i see that every day. and i know there is results. in fact if you look at the numbers today, knock on wood -- we are still at the historic time of low homicides in the city, we want to keep it that way, we want to keep the success going. thank you for your mayor, i want you to know that i am a grateful mayor to this police force and to all the people that serve it. and tonight i celebrate with you the recipients of the medals of valor to know that i appreciate the extra effort that its taken

for you to get this award and recognition. i am proud of you, not only as officers and employees of the city. but proud of you being our city's heroes tonight. congratulations and thank you very much. [applause] ç