it is as old as its neighbor and both have a significant forest, a refreshing retreat from urban life. the pass that meander we do under a canopy of 0, redwood, pine, and eucalyptus. chill out and this environment and you might see butterflies and dandelions. blue jays fly between the eucalyptus. it is ada accessible. public transit is plentiful. six, 24, or 71 bus. we have conquered the steps, we walked the dogs, and we have enjoyed a beautiful view the park has to offer. this is the place to take someone special and enjoyed a beautiful look out.

" come to corona heights, located in the heart of this district. it offers a spectacular view of the downtown skyline, the bay bridge, and the east bay. the park is one of the best kept secrets. unlike twin peaks, it is hardly ever crowded. on any given day, you will run into a few locals. hop on a 37 bus to get there with that any parking worries. locals can bring their dogs to run with other dogs. there is also grass for small dogs. >> it is a great place. it is a wonderful place for the city to provide these kind of parks. the dog owners appreciate it. >> take time to notice the wildflowers on the grassland. and keep your head on the lookout for hawks and other bird life. take your camera and be prepared to review the city in a way you will not forget.

it is prominent with beautiful formations that are perfect to watch the sunrise from the east over the bay. this is another one of our great look out. we are at mount davidson. it has the highest point of elevation in san francisco, 928 feet. this is the place for you to bring someone special. enjoy all of the pathways, trails, and greenery that surrounds you. it provides a peaceful oasis of public open space and great hiking trails. the spectacular view offers a perfect place to watch the sunrise, or, sunset, with someone you love. >> it is a good place to get away from the hectic life of the

city. get some fresh air. the view is fantastic. >> wear sturdy shoes to conquer the trail, you have the feeling of being in a rain forest. mount davidson is also a great place to escape the noise and the apostle of the city with your partner. -- bustle of the city with your partner. it is quite a hike to the top at mount davidson but the view is worth every step. this is the place to bring that someone special. for more information about reserving one of these romantic locations, or any other location, 831-5500. this number is best for special ovens, weddings, picnics, and the county for building. for any athletic field and

neighborhood parks, call 831- 5510. you can also write us at permits and reservations. or walking in and say hello at old log cabin, golden gate park. and of course you can find more information at sfrecpark.org.

>> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the presentation of the colors and the singing of the national anthem.

uniformed officers, present arms. ♪ oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight, o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? ♪ and the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

♪ oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪

>> please be seated. good evening, i would like to welcome to you san francisco police department medal of valor ceremony. i am inspector, john monroe, and i will be the master of ceremons this evening. i would like to first welcome everyone here. and welcome mayor lee, and i believe that supervisor wiener may be the audience. and a few thank yous. first to the allegiance of honor, for being generous with your room and mccall's catering, and thank you to the san francisco police department for the generous donation and poa for their jgenerosity to this

event and reesa, that does most of this work. thank you. and last and not least, the families and friends and mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers that support your officers every day and night for them to come out and do the work they do. give yourself a round of applause. thank you. first i will introduce you to your commission. your police commission, and then introduce you to your command staff and then we will have the chief speak, the mayor speak, the vice president of the commission and the president of the commission. i would like to start with your police commission. first we have commissioner carol kingsley. commissioner joseph marshall. commissioner suzy loftus.

and commissioner petra dejesus. vice president julius turman, and president, thomas mazzucco. and the command staff. commander hector fines. commander joseph garrity. commander charlie ork. commander alie. commander richard korea. deputy chief denise smith. deputy chief david chen. deputy chief john loftus. deputy chief michael beal. deputy chief tomakia, my boss

and the chief gregory pesir. and last and not least the mayor of city and county of san francisco, ed lee. first i would like to start with vice president turman and president mazzucco to say a few words for you. >> thank you very much, inspector monroe, distinguished guests. tonight i ask my vice president turman to be present, because he actually participated in the selection of these awards. on behalf of the police commission i want to congratulate the officers and their families. we have had a busy week at the san francisco police department, on friday night we graduated 46 brand-new officers from the 235th recruit class, and during my speech to the officers, i

talked about being courageous. you are courageous. i talked about becoming san francisco's finest. you are san francisco's finest. on tuesday we had a promotion ceremony and another speech speaking to officers and commanders and i spoke to them about their role and what is expected of them training the next generation of san francisco's finest. and during that i talked about leading example. i said lead by example by the plan there, chief suhr. and i talked about an example that is relevant to you today. i talked about how he could comfortable and officers could be comfortable with him despite their rank, because there is a mutual respect. and that mutual respect is that the chief knows at any given

moment those officers would be called upon to do something more important than his duties as chief of police. you are those officers and to you and your family i want to congratulate you for your courage. i am proud to serve as one of your police commissioners. >> good evening, so this is what it looks like when men and women and people every day human beings are everyday heroes but today is no ordinary day. because those everyday heroes have gathered, considered and contemplated. and we stand here today to honor the extraordinary effort of extraordinary people. today you will hear stories about the officers of san

francisco police department. all ranks. all stripes. different backgrounds. different knowledge. different abilities. but with one common thing in mind, they cared. they cared enough to go that extra mile to protect the city and county of san francisco. and its citizens. but it is no wonder that we are gathered here in this place to name some individuals. because this is what it looks like. an extraordinary police department. but they should be extraordinary. because it is my privilege to sit with these ladies and gentlemen who have the privilege of working alongside of an extraordinary command staff,

extraordinary captains, and extraordinary police chief. today you will hear stories of sacrifice, of danger, of caring of others before they cared for themselves. but it is no secret as to why that happens. because it's something that is bred in the san francisco police department. i am proud to say that almost every -- almost every interaction i have had with a san francisco police officer is one filled with mutual respect and dignity. now the one that gave me the speeding ticket the other day -- maybe i was less respectful than he was. but in any case, i will say that this is a department where

respect, hard work and an earnest desire to serve starts from the t. and it goes down throughout a department. when you listen today, you will hear stories of fabulous individuals. and you will say, wow, what is that san francisco department doing? it's not just them, look to yourselves because those values began with all of you. family and friends and those who love our officers. and thank you for being here today. it's my privilege to preside over the process to select these officers. and i look forward to the presentations by each of the captains. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, vice president turman and thank you president

mazzucco. i understand that the mayor is on a tight schedule. i would like the mayor to come up and say a few words, please. 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 happening, i wanted to make sure that i put time in to come before you for a brief moment. and to share my appreciation to the police force. to commissioners, the president mazzucco, and to the entire commission, to chief suhr and the entire command staff. to the awardees tonight. i know there is 41 of you out there with family and friends. but i want to say this to the entire 2,000 sworn men and women in san francisco police force. i am very proud of you.

as hard as i work, i know there are people that work even harder than i, and i don't necessarily put my life on the line every single day i go out there. but for a world-class city to have this status is one of the best cities to ever live in. to work in and to visit. you got to have a police force that rises to world-class standards. and the san francisco police department is in fact 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 know everyone of

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 l without a world class police department. we could not have landed the americus cup in san francisco without 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 faster recovering cities in all of our country without a good police force. so i made it a point tonight to come here and let you know that i may not know each of the officers allegiance to your favorite baseball team, your 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 the city. i know that on a daily basis whether you are walking the neighborhoods of south of market or the tenderloin and bayview or any number of our neighborhoods. you are doing the best you can. you are looking out for people. and i want you to know that as the mayor of this city, we also got your back covered as well. because we don't have each other's back covered, we don't have the trust that we need to move forward in this city. so i want to say thank you to each of the 2,000 men and women who serve in this police department. the commission. the commanding staff. the police officers association that works closely with all of us as well. and not only say 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, is no longer on the front pages of our newspapers. but they are in our memories. in the men and women, the people that you work alongside, your family and friends and commissioners, they know who they 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 head, and 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 from your mayor. i want you to know that i am a grateful mayor to this police force and all the people that serve it. and tonight i celebrate with you the recipients for 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. proud of you not only being officers and employees of the city. but proud of you being our city's heroes tonight. congratulations and thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee. now i would like to introduce your chief of police, gregory p. suhr. >> good evening, i don't think

it could be anymore appropriate tonight that we are here at the legend of honor. that's what this is about, honoring folks, that we literally hear a lot and put our lives on the line every day. and in the instanceses of the stories you are about toar, it did happen. the men and women that will be spoken about tonight. i can't even tell you how special and spectacular the duties that you performed and the way that you did this, impressive. it would be lame if that's a word i can say. i thought what i would do, i don't think that the sworn officers here know the process by which we got here tonight. so the process is rapid protracted. every day i get a folder full of

what is called captain's complimentary letters. in those letters written by supervisors in the police department, there are bank robbers arrested. and guns taken. and gang members identified. and on and on, if you read these things, you would think, my god, everything that is mentioned in these captain complimentary letters surely they will get an award. and they do, they get captain complimentary letters, and that's what we do. when someone does something over and above, as the case for everyone here. the commanding officer will write that officer up for a consideration for medal of valor. that goes to a three-captain committee that vets many recommendations. some of those move back to captain complimentary letters

because they don't make the thre threshold of a letter. and many result in a police commission complementary. and i want to thank the commission, and the mayor, if you think you have a busy schedule, it doesn't compare to his. i assure you. and the police of honor and these awards is not on the way to anything. he came here for you, and he is our mayor. and back to the story. these three captains then will make recommendations and come back and forth and certified before the medal of valor committee. the medal of valor committee is by rule and commission only the captains of the police department and the command staff. that's it. so low 40 something people max, and to get a