purposeful manner. they knew every foot of sidewalk or st. they could close would reduce the number of pedestrians and civilians exposed. the suspect turned toward them with gun in hand. lt. parra and sergeant gordon were no more than 5 feet from the man. both had that split-second to realize that they were on the brink of using deadly force with all of its consequences. once again, the officers ordered the suspect to drop his gun. staring down officers, the suspect raised the gun and then tossed it to the ground. lt. parra and sergeant gordon maintained control of the scene. they directed the subjects -- suspect to the ground and directed him away from the gun, handcuffing him. they also rendered aid to the victim in an attempt to save his life. they turned their attention to

isolating other potential suspects. they directed the arriving units to secure the suspect, perimeter, murder weapon, to locate witnesses, they ran a textbook investigation and follow-up. we are tremendously fortunate that these two officers were on that street that night. their outstanding bravery and ability to respond without hesitation, there's protection decision making to assess, tactically respond to, and control the immediate deadly threat, their willingness to put their lives at risk, knowing it was necessary to save the lives of others, their control and disciplined response initially and managing the resulting homicide scene, for these actions, the arabs each being awarded the gold medal of valor. [applause]

>> commissioner dejesus wanted to say a few words. >> i also want to thank all of the awardees tonight. i also want to acknowledge our officers give time, energy, and oftentimes money in the community they live in, as well as to the children in those communities. lt. henry parr is the coordinator of the housing

authority but is also active in the operation dream, which gives toys to children in the housing -- over $25,000. they will start distributing those toys december 20 through december 23. we are going to post and on the website. i just wanted knowledge, in doing your everyday work, they give so much time to our community, and this is a wonderful thing to do to give toys to the children of those in the housing authority. thank you. [applause]

>> now we will have the medal

of valor presentation for sgt timothy paine, sergeant james o'malley, sgt gregory kane, officer william eleiff, and officer steven stearns. [applause] >> on may 5, 2004, a round in o'clock p.m., there was an attempted kidnapping of strangers of a woman and her son. the suspect proceeded in a chevy trailblazer and used a large caliber gun and fled westbound on any street. the suspect's description was

broadcast five minutes later at 8:05. two minutes after that, officer eleiff saw the suspect vehicle and paged and began following it. as he broadcast, holding a court microphone, his location, the vehicle sped off at a high rate of speed. opposite the live activated his lights and sirens and pursue the vehicle. the suspect drove west on haight and then northwest on the visitor. the suspect drove northbound in the southbound lanes of the visitor. of azeri live broadcast a license plate as the suspect turned west on hayes. the suspect drove north on broadway and fired one shot at officer eleiff.

, -- stearns, and kane. those shots can be heard of the recording of the night. the suspect headed north and again leaned out the window to fire at the pursuing officers. the suspect then turned eastbound on to turkey into oncoming one way traffic. officers paine and o'malley saw the vehicle traveling up a high rate of speed on to oncoming traffic. officer pain is a specialist. they are more heavily trained in these types of situations. knowing the information, he attempted to halt the suspect by firing at the suspect. the round, but officers hearing the shot at the suspect had fired at them.

officers o'malley and paine, knowing that officer eleiff was a single unit, decided to pursue the suspect. the suspect continued into oncoming traffic until he turned north on webster and the east oneddy, sot on buchanan. during this pursuit, officer you lift prop broadcast the suspects route while driving, holding the microphone in one hand. once in large rally, the suspect drove along the block calling for residents of the housing project to come out and stop his car. officers paid and o'malley not arrived at the other end of the alley. officer of valley got out of his car and ran down the building line toward the vehicle. the vehicle started again. fear of the suspect might get into another altercation with civilians, as this was mayor of the scene of the initial

incident, or leave the alley to in danger citizens and officers, officer of valley stopped -- officer o'malley shot one shot. the suspect fired a round at them through his back window. officers came, stern, and the live, returned fire without hitting the suspect. the officers continued their verbal commands to the suspect to put up his hands and leave the vehicles. the suspect got out of the driver's door, raised his hands, took off his shirt doing a full circle. the suspect then dropped his hands to his waist and took a few steps toward the officers who did not fire at these provoking actions. the suspect then returned to his car and sat on the running board. officers kept up a stream of commands for the suspect to surrender which he ignored. officer pain move down the alley toward the alley, warning people

to get out of the street. sgt. paine had arrived at a position parallel to that of the subject -- suspect. the suspect turned in the car and appeared to be getting something. he turned back toward the officers who again held their fire. the suspect turned back toward the inside of the vehicle, appeared to shield his movement. officer -- sgt. kane saw the suspect reached under his driver seat. the suspect then spun around toward the officers. sgt. paine, believing the suspect would again opened fire, fire three shots. the suspect fell to the ground. officers called for an ambulance and administered first aid. the suspect was pronounced dead at the same. the suspect's gun was recovered in the driver's door. the suspect was initially wanted for attempted to kidnap a

stranger and alison son using a gun. this heinous crime testify the pursuit of the subject. the suspect's crimes showed a gravest threat to public safety. the suspect then fired repeatedly at officers. each of these officers had time to make a decision to put their lives at risk for the public safety. each of these officers could have made decisions to not join in on the efforts or to abandon their attempts to take the dangers of its critics suspect into -- custody. officer eleiff could have backed off the chase as a 1 person unit. officer stearns and sgt. kane could have done nothing. officer came and started o'malley also could have decided not to. each of these officers showed restraint in not firing their weapons where a suspect

provocative action would normally end in shooting. these officers were awarded the gold medal of valor. [applause]

>> a sgt. paine, who could not be here tonight, was also awarded the gold medal of valor.

>> it is with great pride that we honor these individuals for their valor. every day, officers put their lives at risk and do very good police work and we do not do enough to thank them for that. i am brought to be part of a ceremony where we can point to these heroes and thank them publicly, the way that we should do so every day publicly. so thank you again. [applause]

the police commission and the park would would also like to think the diversity of california's san francisco for its generous support in co- sponsored tonight's event. we would like to single out the community relations office and the conference center office for putting tonight's ceremony and their generous support. i also want to thank ms. tom. she is the one that put the packs together and organized the event. she did a lot of work and happy that she could be here tonight. this concludes our ceremony. there will be refreshments out in front. there is a photographer. you want to take pictures.

i am going to go outside and shake the hands of some heroes and thank them. i hope that you will do the same. thank you for coming again. mayor newsom: thank you all very much for taking the time to be here.

i'm grateful and surprised by the number of people that actually showed up. i'm grateful for the number of people that took the time to be here to watch a number of your friends and family members and get to some various boards and bodies. this officially will constitute i believe my last public swearing in as mayor. there may be one or two people that i will be swearing in quietly in the mayor's office, but we are running out of commissions and running out of commissioners and boards, so i'm grateful that you took the time to be here for this. i thank supervisor dufty, supervisor elsbernd for also taking the time to be here. how about a giant round of applause? [applause]

i want to thank a number of department heads. the press secretary and other commissioners, i want to thank matthew for all his hard work getting the commissioners to give up their resumes and in some circumstances, give up their tax returns so we can find out more about you -- not literally. i am grateful to be swearing in a dozen or so of you. the arts commission, the asian art museum commission. i will have some editorial comments in a moment. the finance corp., the golden

gate bridge district, golden gate park concourse authority, graffiti advisory board -- and there is a story attached to that -- housing authority commission. small business commission, and the south east community facility's commission. briefly, i see p.j. johnson is the president of the arts commission who is here, and i'm pleased that kimberly striker is more publicly going to be sworn in, and my old friend who is going to move over from the department on the status of women and has long had an artistic bent and passion and history and background, and it seemed appropriate that we took this opportunity to appoint dorca to the arts commission. i happen to think that our public arts scene in this community has improved dramatically. i was pleased to see something highlighting one of those

pieces, but i'm very proud of the work that has been done over there, and i certainly hope and expect that we will be doing all those wonderful things for this neighborhood, but never forget the quality and imagination we strike when we probably right and opportunity to access in any meaningful way that challenges, ignites, and excites them, and that is why having these big, bold pieces of public art i think is so important to our city and provides a framework at least symbolically, not just substantively, people can appreciate the great history of the arts in our city. the asian art museum, at work and victoria both be reappointed -- i joked about that. we have work to do over there. great things are happening. when we say world class, it tends to be a widely overstated phrase, but you talk about collection. there is simply not a collection in the western world as broad

and deep as the asian art museum collection. it is truly an extraordinary collection. the challenge is it is in a beautiful building, and as great as that building is and as beautiful as the civic center is, it sometimes gets lost to those other cultural icons throughout the city that are in areas that are more accessible to people, at least they believe them to be more accessible. the challenge for the asian art museum is to build its foundation and to provide some new -- i see jay who is here, the director -- the opportunity to take more risks in terms of how we rediscover the museum and get people to appreciate the extraordinary work that has been known over there in its leadership, so i'm excited about

what you have been done. that is why you are being appointed back. we hope to have some announcements very soon about the asian art museum and its stated future. a lot of work to be done behind the scenes, as you know. finance corp. -- this is interesting. i'm pleased they are both going to take the mantle to serve on this corporation. this is a big deal. thank you for being here. [applause] the finance corp. was conceived as sort of a watchdog group of folks that could make sure -- that is why not yet as to say you wonder why these people are year. there's a connection. to make sure that we are being good fiduciaries to the work that is being done in this city that is being sponsored by the people and their support of our municipal bonds. there have been questions in the past -- distant past -- that we

have not always been doing what we could be doing, and that is why this was conceived. so it does not get as much attention as it deserves, but it is incredibly important. that is why i called ken and arnold up and asked if they would be willing to serve on this body, because it is an important body. so i'm very grateful. i have known arnold for many years, and i have admired and appreciated his commitment to this city. he knows more about their brown and jordan and feinstein am i ever will, as he has been a friend and served in different capacities formally and informally for previous mayors. i'm very grateful for the role you will be serving. can cleveland -- you are always saying we need to be they of

fiduciaries, so why not put the watchdog group, and i know all the members of the group, and i appreciate your willingness to serve. john, how many years have you been on this board? a long time. he was laid off a few times, but he keeps coming back. i guess that is the real story. but i told john his only job -- i'm going to leverage you publicly -- i said i'm going to be a poignant, i want one thing -- i want to walk up the table of the golden gate bridge -- if i'm going to be a point you. i conditioned his entire reappointment on that, i expect publicly there is going to be some announcements.

spend the day with us, so i said i'm happy to do that, so i'm happy to walk up with those men and women. i still want to do that. there is two more directors. i know. i'm very pleased as well. stephen, an old friend of mine -- not a very old friend. we got to know each other just a few years ago, but he works with the giants and has been very involved in community work and doing other things before that, and is just a passionate enthusiast of our recreation and parks system, and it was one of those things are you said, "my gosh, what about steven to serve on the golden gate park's

authority?" and he kiley said yes, and i'm very pleased you are willing to do this, so thank you. you are going to be outstanding. there was a column in the "chronicle" which i thought was interesting, about someone, and i will not get into the particulars. you can read the column if you are interested -- who went out there -- i do not want to belittle what the column said. what do you call those fancy shoes? manolo or something. i purposely did not remember that, so i do not have to at home. some fancy shoes and fancy outfits, and she was out there cleaning up graffiti, and she sort of made an art of it because she does some serious work in the real estate world, some fancy work, and she drives a fancy car and gets out there with big cans of paint.

they are in the back of a car, and she just stops everywhere, middle of the street, double parks, whatever, and jobs out there and will clean out your graffiti. i thought maybe there was something right about her. maybe there was something wrong. so i had to check. i realized it was hollow. i had known her over the years and did not connect the dots. -- i realized it was paula. kurd of like you are going to sit there telling us we can do a better job -- how about this? we have this position somehow that was vacant on the graffiti advisory board, so we said how about that? she said yes and went on to tell me more about the -- anyway, she was already on the job. i thank you for your hard work on this appointment. kind of, i don't know, interesting circuitous way onto this board. but good luck. but now, you are part of the

problem. not just books at city hall. housing authority commission, dorothy smith. this was interesting -- we had a public process for this commission. there is always a public process, so we decided to dig deeper into public housing, and we had a very specific slot for a certain type of commissioner, and we interviewed a bunch of folks, and we found the perfect person to serve on our housing authority. you all know how exciting housing authority is, right? they are going through a complete reinvention, out there, starting at hunters point and moving out to sunnyvale, and eventually alice griffith. completely real imagining public housing. -- completely real magic in

public housing. we keep putting band-aids, and is just failing more efficiently. we put up $95 million of city money. people do not fully appreciate -- $95 million in bonds the city put up to build this public- private partnership. we're finding that will dollars, state dollars that we otherwise would not have discovered had we not have the courage to put that deals together. so it is an exciting time in public housing. and no, public housing is not what it should be, and, yes, a lot of us should be ashamed that we allowed it to go this long and thus far, but that is a national issue as much as it is a state and local issue, but the state is stepping in where the federal government walk away, and dorothy is going to be a big part of that. i'm grateful you said yes and your name into this mix. so thank you. small business -- steve adams. a small-business advocate. he has friends here.