>> i have 2 job titles. i'm manager of the tour program as well as i am the historyian of city hall. this building is multifaceted to say the very least it's a municipal building that operates the city and county of san francisco. this building was a dream that became a reality of a man by the

name of james junior elected mayor of san francisco in 1912. he didn't have a city hall because it was destroyed in the earth wake of 1906. construction began in april of 1913. in december 1915, the building was complete. it opened it's doors in january 1916. >> it's a wonderful experience to come to a building built like this. the building is built as a palace. not for a king or queen. it's built for all people. this building is beautiful art. those are architecture at the time when city hall was built, san francisco had an enormous

french population. therefore building a palace in the art tradition is not unusual. >> jimmie was an incredible individual he knew that san francisco had to regain it's place in the world. he decided to have the tallest dome built in the united states. it's now stands 307 feet 6 inches from the ground 40 feet taller than the united states capital. >> you could spend days going around the building and finding something new. the embellishment, the carvings, it represents commerce, navigation, all of the things that san francisco is famous

for. >> the wood you see in the board of supervisor's chambers is oak and all hand carved on site. interesting thing about the oak is there isn't anymore in the entire world. the floors in china was cleard and never replanted. if you look up at the seceiling you would believe that's hand kof carved out of wood and it is a cast plaster sealing and the only spanish design in an arts building. there are no records about how many people worked on this building.

the workman who worked on this building did not all speak the same language. and what happened was the person working next to the other person respected a skill a skill that was so wonderful that we have this masterpiece to show the world today.>> hello, everybody. thank you for coming. on behalf of phil and our two daughters, we want to thank you for coming to the swearing in today. let's get the program under way. as you know, san francisco has a new mayor. [applause] mayor edwin lee was sworn in yesterday afternoon. we are honored to have been here with us at the end of his first

full day as mayor. now that you are mayor, your day is just beginning. please welcome mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> thank you, susan. yes, i am almost through with the first day and i have been asking staff, when can i crack the first joke? i have not been able to do that. i am honored and proud to be here today for the swearing in of a very good and longtime friend phil ting. i do not know if many of you know this but we do have one particular thing in common. it is not height, nor is it facial hair. what we do have in common is that we both work for one of the great agencies in san

francisco, the asian law caucus. [applause] i know that having spent many years there, when phil started heading it up, we were both trained for solid community work, working on behalf of diverse communities on diverse issues, helping those who needed help, those who were powerless. as phil, who has been our current assessor-recorder is being sworn in today, he is much more than the appraisal function that this office has. in fact, he has utilized this position effectively to introduce some other creative programs, such as coastal are, one of the first in the country to do this -- go solar, one of the first in the country to do this. they got a well-deserved award for recognizing that very thing. he knows how to use innovation.

his spearheading efforts in the don't borrow trouble program, where people who are facing foreclosure get caught up in that, that has been extremely innovative. his real estate watchdog, when people make transactions on property and do not wish to report it -- that watchdog program is something he started. in the first year, $1.34 million. that is some serious money. it is that kind of innovation that also caused him to lead other things that i feel are important. he is helping to start the china sf board. that is also something that i am working on. that is a job creator, bringing

in the firms, and that is another example of innovation. all these accomplishments are just a few of the many things that phil has been able to accomplish, besides being a good father. i will let you know this. even on his first day, when i told you that i would be making the budget deficit a big priority -- many of us have already talked about this this morning -- i am going to need a bill to collect every dollar that he can. [applause] we all know it in the city that every dollar he collects is going to be part of the services we support in the city. that is an indictable -- hit in valuable -- invaluable position. he will be helping all san

franciscans make sure that our property taxes are filed efficiently and innovatively assessed in value. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee, for your kind words. before i introduce our necks speaker, i want to acknowledge some of our friends today. it is our long list, so i would ask that you hold your applause until the end. we have the treasurer here. board president david chiu. supervisor jane kim is here. supervisor eric mar. supervisor scott wiener. city college at san francisco

border trusties natalie berg. executives of the labor council. city attorney dennis her erherr. tom ammiano, george gascon. former supervisor bevan dufty is here with us. department of environment director emily nutter. interim police chief jeff godown. thank you for being here today. [applause] now on with the program. when phil told me he invited the speaker of the california state assembly to swear him in, i looked at him and said, are you kidding me? the governor is introducing his budget that we, sessions that

week, there is no way he is driving down to san francisco for you on wednesday night. but it sure enough, here i am. i am not sure that bill asked me to introduce him, more so as payback for being the naysayer. we are so happy to have you here. i get to call you john, because this was before he became speaker. i first met john in 2008. bill said to me, my college friend is in town running for a board office in l.a.. we found ourselves having breakfast one morning. i thought, we are going to spend the entire breakfast talking about his candidacy, who was going to win. this is too much for a saturday morning. but sure enough, at one point, he stopped talking about the campaign and just started

playing with our daughter isabella, who was two at the time. at the pinnacle of their relationship, she spilled and ice cold glass of water all over his pants. i am thinking in my head, he hates us. should i buy him a new pair of pants? what should i do? john just looked at me and said, it is no big deal. don't worry about it. whether he was uncomfortable or not, you would not have known it. he accepts the situation, moves on, and that is the kind of person he is. sari, we have some baby issues. i promise i will keep isabella away from you with any beverages tonight. now i will refer to you as

speaker. john perez was elected to the california state assembly in 2008 representing parts of downtown l.a. and eastern ally. prior to the election, he spent 10 years has had the leader of the labor federation. since his election, he has hit the ground running focusing on job creation, expanding health care, support workers' rights, and oversight and accountability in our government. in 2010, speaker progress was elected by his peers by the california state assembly. as someone who works for the legislature, it has been a thrill watching you rise to your leadership that i know our state needs right now. i asked phil to describe his college friend using three words. he said passionate, committed, just gets it done. that is more than three words.

i do not know about you, but those are three solid words i am happy to hear describing one of the most powerful leaders in our state. i am proud to introduce the speaker of the assembly john paris. >> thank you. this week the governor unveiled a difficult budget with $28 billion worth of solution we need to find and somehow you are surprised that i wanted to leave sacramento? i am honored to be here. it is an incredible privilege to celebrate tonight with all of you this wonderful transition as

you enter your next phase of public office. it is an honor to be a part of this process with you. phil and i have known each other a long time. we met when when we were both young students at uc berkeley. as we celebrate a new governor, here in california, i could not help but think that everything was new again. i thought about everything that we worked on together and how much they laid the foundation for his work in public life, hopefully, for my work in public life. one of the first thing we did together was to pass an american studies requirement, a graduation requirement, at berkeley, so everyone understood the strength of celebrating the diversity of the people of california. he fought for justice, not just as a student, making sure we had a university system that was open and accessible to

students, but also to the faculty. he and i spent years working to defend faculty members who had been unjustly denied tenure through a denied -- flawed process. we fought the first goal for together. we protested the first president bush together. we engaged in broadbased coalition politics that laid the foundation for much of what phil has done prior to coming into office, his years in office. over the past five years, you have no phil to be a problem solving assessor. the mayor talked about some of his success. the fact that he has generated $245 million above projected revenues at a time of this kind of economic crisis is nothing short of extraordinary. for as long as i have known him, he has been an incredibly forward-looking intellectual, a

passionate leader, and that is something that has been consistent whether as a student leader, leader in the community leadership role, or as the assessor. before he came to office, he was a strong civil rights leader. he thought and protected the legal and civil rights for asian-pacific islanders and all people in the city who needed their services. he served the asian law caucus, the board for the california equality institute, defending work to secure legal protections for lgbt people. this is important to me as the first day speaker. he and i go back so long, he probably remembers when i dated women. [laughter] i think this is long enough in

where you can do the joke, mayor. becoming san francisco's highest-ranking chinese american official in 2005, still has really played a key role in the community. i know that he is as happy as anybody to be surpassed in that position, now having major league. we all celebrate your ascension. -- mayor lee. [no audio] [applause] [no audio][applause] the mayor talked about his great work. he has been groundbreaking in his environmental work.

really, making sure that we bring environmentally sound energy production into the mainstream, not only here in the city and county of san francisco, but making that success the foundation for which the rest of us judge ourselves. as public officials from across the state are called to solve unprecedented problems, it is encouraging to know that phil will continue his work on behalf of good government policies and solutions. it is clear that he understands every dollar his office brings in leads to more funding for the crucial programs that make this a city and county that people so much enjoyed living in working in. the commitment that the mayor discussed with respect to real state watchdogs and others is phenomenal. in its first year of publication, the change report brought in $1.3 million, much needed for the city of san

francisco. and that revenue went to help those in need the most, the children in our community, seniors, families who desperately need so many of the services that people are threatening to turn their backs on in challenging times. the strides that he has made in san francisco and is first few years as office -- in office are clear. it is exactly that what we are celebrating, the next term of office, all the promise that bill brings to us. as a friend, public -- fellow public servant, i cannot think of anything i would rather be doing than what i'm about to do next which is administered the oath of office to my friend and our assessor-recorder phil ting. [applause]

>> if you would raise your right hand and repeat after me. i, phil ting, do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of california, that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to

enter, and during such time as i hold the office of assessor- recorder. congratulations. [applause] >> it is perfect when you have kids. they have an alarm clock when they tell you that you have gone on too long. you want to say hello too? first of all, i want to say thank you, first and foremost, to my wife susan, my daughters, and thank you for the wonderful introduction and all the love that you gave to my family. thank you very much.

i want to also thank our elected officials, commissioners, department heads, community leaders, friends and family for joining us in our office. it is an honor to have your support and share with you this great day. most importantly, why we wanted to do it in this office, i wanted to thank the people of the assessor-recorder's office. too often, you do incredible work, such important work, people do not often know the impact. let's give a big round of applause for the people here. they do the hard work. [applause] the speaker was absolutely right. i am one of the proudest people in this city that we have our

first chinese-american mayor edwin lee. [applause] ed, for many of us in the asian- american community, has been a longtime role model. he has always been my role model, mentor, and he gives the example of fighting for everybody every day and making sure that the city is not just there for some people, but that it is therefore all of us. it is something that i aspire to. thank you and congratulations. [applause] and, mr. speaker, my good friend, john arresperez. we do go back 20 years. susan did say just that, that

there was no way that you would come down here. thank you for being here in these times. i do go back to our days at cal. in the late 1980's and early 1990's, we were also facing budget cuts. this threat of contract that the people have given to families and students, that you were going to get a high quality of moral education starting in kindergarten, all the way through college, if you could stay the course. we saought start to the road bak then. that is something that we continue to fight for. i want to thank you for your leadership. i cannot imagine someone who is more capable, strong, a willing leader at this time in the

budget. so thank you, john, for your leadership. if you ride muni, if you send your children to public schools, if you use public parks or any of our libraries, you have felt the impact of the office of the assessor-recorder. someone told me yesterday that it is the office that most people have ever heard of. there is some truth to that. but everybody, even today, has felt the impact of our office. we have one of the most important jobs in city hall. we make sure every san franciscan, from the smallest home owner to the biggest in the city, pays their fair share in taxes. since 2005, we are on the way to being the best. being the best. our office in the