and i don't stand here by myself. i actually stand on the heads and the shoulders and the backs and the arms of the many members of labor who stood with me and walked with me and fought with me and made everything possible. i want to also take a moment to acknowledge supervisor sofia maxwell for her hard work and dedication. for the past 10 years. i know it has not been easy being the only african-american sitting on the san francisco board of supervisors, but i am honored to step up and fill her great shoes. and i will be working to add more members of the african-american community to the elected family here in san francisco. [applause] and i will also commit myself to making sure that there are more latinos elected to the elected family, because there's room for everyone in this city

to serve. so one thing that i learned, without a doubt, representing district 10, there is the absolute need for coalition building. everyone, we must learn how to work together in order to inspire together and connect with their humanity so that we can uplift ourselves out of this precarious budget system. and make san francisco truly the san francisco that it aspires to be. i couldn't have made it this far without assemblywoman fiona moss. she has been a great friend to me. [applause] fiona has offered incredible support during the campaign, and i am very humbled and grateful for her sage counsel and guidance. i'd like to acknowledge -- this is a good one. i'd like to acknowledge all of the many candidates who ran in

district 10. for all of you that are in this room, you know that was a heck of a race. and i want each of the candidates to know that i welcome their help and i will continue to seek their energy and involvement as i serve. and although the campaign is over, the conversation still continues. and i look forward to keeping that dialogue going. and i have a challenge for every single resident of the southeast sector of the city. that we must remain engaged and heard in the democratic process, whether you're from potrero hill, bayview, silver terrace, whether you live in public housing, or you own your own home, whether you're white, black, latino, or asian, we all collectively must stay engaged in this process if we expect to see some change coming around. and i will actively seek your input. now, my goals as your new

supervisor are simple, straight forward, and doable. i will continue to build a bridge between the community and city hall. bridging the gap is how we can ensure the future where all residents are working, healthy, and safe. pragmatic, smart policies and hard workers are what it's going to take to get us there, not political ideologies. together, we are able to put district 10 on track for success and sustainability, and i want every san franciscan in this chamber to hear me and understand that san francisco will only be as great as the weakest link. and when district 10 in the southeast neighborhood becomes strong and robust, so will san francisco. [applause]

i particularly want to take a moment to thank my outstanding campaign staff. mark, megan, hamilton, all the volunteers that are here with me today that picked up the phone, walked. we held phone banks and conversations in english, in spanish, in chinese, and i tell you today, we are going to continue having a multi-lingual approach to every single thing that we do. no one is going to be left outside because of a language barrier. [applause] i'm going to wrap this up, i know. they've given me the signal. i want you to know that i'm committed to improving our environment by cleaning up the shipyard and powering our district with renewable energy. and supporting policies that encourage job growth in the southeast sector and in particular, green jobs will be one of my top priorities. i also give you my word to work for a better coordination among the community organization, city agencies, and elected

officials to improve public safety and to reduce crime. city hall is where government and neighborhoods intersect, and i believe in equality, justice, and access to resources for all people. that is why i'm proud to stand before you, mr. president, and members of the board of supervisors and i'm honored to be here to serve as your new supervisor for district 10. thank you very much. [applause] president chiu: thank you, supervisor. our next colleague to speak will be our recently elected colleague from district four,

supervisor carmen chu. [applause] supervisor chu: thank you, president chiu. i do want to say first and foremost, thank you to my colleagues on the board who i have had the privilege to serve with, both old and new. i look forward to continuing to build those relationships. to my new colleagues, i want to say congratulations. i know that there are many tough roads ahead, many tough years ahead that we will have to work together jointly on, and again, i say congratulations to you and to your families who have made it here today. thinking about what i wanted to say, i just have to say how humbled i am to serve the city and county of san francisco, and in particular, the residents of district four. i can't tell you every morning when i wake up in the morning and i brush my teeth, i say really? [laughter] but for all the people who have voted for me, who have entrusted me in this position, i just can't tell you how

grateful i am for that. i wouldn't be here without you, and it's been truly an honor for me to serve you and i look forward to continuing to make sure that san francisco is the best place that it can be. i do want to say a few thanks to my campaign team, to maggie, maureen, jeff, jim, nancy, all my volunteers. this is the best campaign i've ever had. running unopposed is quite nice, thank you very much. [applause] to my staff katie, to tammy. i wouldn't be here without you. you keep me going every single day in the office with your humor, hard work, and trust in me. so i want to say thank you to you. so many hours, as many as the new supervisors will come to know, are shared with your staff, and we really couldn't do it without them. so i want to say thank you to katie and tammy and all my volunteers in the office. to my family and my friends who have come today, every day when we come back from a hard day

when we've had 10-hour meetings to figure out who the interim mayor is going to be, when we've had a rough day anywhere, you folks are our rock. you are there to support us, to feed us, and i can't be more thankful. i do want to say a special thanks to my mom and dad, who are here today. they have taught me so much from working in the restaurant, where i ate a lot of egg rolls, but also learned the value of hard work and understood how difficult it is to be part of a family make it here. i just want to say thank you for giving me this opportunity. to my sisters. of course, i love you very much. to my extended family, who is here. carson, la that, tom, sandy, thank you so much. i love you all, just like my own family, so thank you. >> and last time in 2008, i forgot to mention and thank

scott, my partner. so this time i have to make up for it. he has been there to paint my campaign walls, so feed me, to just be someone who says, what are you guys doing? i just want to say to you i couldn't ask for a better partner and someone that i couldn't love more. so thank you for everything. and so again, my comments are brief, but i just want to say thank you for everybody who has been here, it really is my honor to serve district four. i look forward to working with you and getting san francisco to be the place that san francisco residents deserve to have. so thank you again. [applause] president chiu: supervisor, supervisor chu. at this time, i'd like to ask our other colleagues if there are remarks that you would like to make. i'd like to ask you to do so in

the order of your seniority, starting with the most senior member of our body at this time, our supervisor from district seven, supervisor sean elsbernd. supervisor elsbernd: thank you, mr. president. briefly, this is your day, to those of you who have been elected, congratulations. just to tee off on what president chiu has said about being the most senior, i guess that means i've got to give some sage counsel to each of you. the little bit that i would say is, it's going to be over before you know it. i'm sitting here and all of a sudden it's dawning on me, this is my last time here in an inaugural meeting. take advantage of every moment you have here. go after every goal you want to pursue. don't shy away from the challenges. keep fighting, keep working for those who sent you here. and i guarantee it will be a rewarding experience in -- and the city of san francisco will be better off for the work that you do. congratulations. [applause]

president chiu: thank you, supervisor elsbernd. our next most senior member is our supervisor from district five, ross mirkarimi. [applause] supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. supervisor supervisor elsbernd: and i came in in the class of 2004. but he's only 4 months older than me. it's an honor to come in at that particular era, and he's correct, this will be our last inauguration in this tier of government, and i am reminded here by the great delight and honor when we see our new colleagues and colleagues being sworn again in a re-election that we probably have to be just about the most charming local government in the united states. and it's nice to be reminded of that, we are no stranger and

the public is certainly quite familiar that in the heat of battle, that in the deliberations on the floor of the chamber, that everybody knows that the best of intentions, that all 11 of us have because of our great love for the city and county of san francisco. and we know that in the end that the right decisions are typically made, but never lose that inspiration to our new colleagues that you have well-exemplified here today. never lose that steadfast determination to make sure that what you have set out through your campaign and your objectives, that you achieve that purpose and do your best to never trade. trade for votes or trade for anything that might compromise the very principles that are what i consider the rock foundation of what makes our democracy great and what makes san francisco incredibly important. and as it has demonstrated time

to time, san francisco is a leader in this country, even when decisions have been seen unpopular on social justice issues, on issues concerning civil rights, on issues on economics, and environment, san francisco has been a bell weather for the rest of this country, long ahead that many other cities have taken the time to arrive at the very same conclusions that san francisco had pioneered on. it's not easy being san francisco. it's not easy sometimes being lampooned by the national press or international press, but time to time, we have been validated, because it is through that press and through that reflection by those who have watched us throughout california, throughout this country and abroad, that ultimately san francisco makes the right decision and ultimately when common sense prevails, they follow us. enjoy your time here. i know you'll do your constituents proud. collectively, we shall continue to do our best. on behalf of all the people of

san francisco, i look forward to serving with our new colleagues and continuing to serve with certainly supervisor chiu, who has now been reposted. thank you again. [applause] president chiu: our next remarks will be given by our supervisor from district nine, supervisor david chiu. -- david campos. supervisor campos: thank you, mr. president. and congratulations to you on your re-election as board president. it's been quite an interesting few weeks and certainly an interesting week here in san francisco. and i know that a lot will be said about what has transpired in the last few days, and certainly a lot will be said about what transpired here today. but today is not about that. today is about the new supervisors. and i really want to say to each and every one of you that i look forward to working with you. i can honestly say that being a supervisor, a member of this body is the best job that i have ever had, and i know that

each one of you, as evidenced by the amazing remarks that each one of you gave, will be a tremendous servant for the city and county of san francisco, and whatever i can do to work with you, to make sure that we do find that common ground that supervisor scott weiner talked about, i am here to do that. and thank you very much and congratulations not only to each one of you, but also to your families, to your loved ones, because they also made a lot of sacrifices to get you here. so thank you very much. [applause] president chiu: our next remarks will be given by our supervisor from district one, supervisor eric mar. supervisor mar: thank you very much. i wish this excitement can carry on all year. it's really energizing, and the

respect and camaraderie that's here, i hope we continue that into 2011 and the future as well. i'm the supervisor from district one, the richmond district, and it's been an honor to serve my district and the city. i wanted to just give a couple of remarks, saying first of all that i think this is incredible. it's the most diverse board of supervisors ever. with the number of strong women leaders that are joining us, but also i think it's very important to acknowledge that without a strong grass roots campaign for district elections that i and many others in the room here today began in the 1990's, we wouldn't see this kind of diversity and strong representation from all the diverse elements of our city. i also wanted to say that the emergent asian-pacific islander community is very apparent to me, so joining president chiu, supervisor carmen chu, and jake kim from the north korean family. so having four out of the 11 is truly historic for our city of

san francisco. i also wanted to say that though we're asian and pacific islander, we represent our entire districts and the entire city, and i hope we will do that with the most diverse approach that we can. and lastly, i think this new board represents an evolution in change of the progressive movement in san francisco, the maturing of a progressive movement shows that we're acknowledging the diversity of all of our communities and i'm looking forward to working closely with each of the individual supervisors, but especially with the strong leadership from people of colored communities, queer leaders and immigrant community leaders as well so that we move san francisco forward together with a spirit of common ground and camaraderie as well. thank you very much. [applause] president chiu: our next remarks will be given by our supervisor from district 11, supervisor john avalos. [applause] supervisor avalos: thank you, president chiu. president chiu, i want to congratulate you on your

re-election to board president. prior to today, i had been concerned that your many difficult stands on many issues, our budget, our capital plan, muni, have not been appreciated as they should. but clearly today, you have been validated in your hard work. so congratulations. i look forward to working with you in the months and years to come. i think you will make a fine board president that we can all work with. i want to congratulate all the new members of the board of supervisors. for me, just looking back on two years when i first came to the board of supervisors, it was such an exciting and emotional moment, and i got to relive it again watching you. and it was quite an experience. and i am so proud to be part of this body. looking at the diversity, looking that we have an african-american woman who is representing district 10, gives me great joy, and i look forward to working with you, malia and all of the members of

the board who are here. this is quite an exciting experience. i just want to say that this is the best job you are ever going to have. if you go anywhere else, you'll always look back at this time as something that is -- you'll always remember this experience. coming here, this day as well. you get to work with everyday people in your district, your neighbors. you get to problem solve, hear their concerns, and then work with solutions that are so ample here in san francisco with our city departments. there's so much great work to do here, and it really makes people feel proud to be part of san francisco to know that we have a government that is so responsive to our needs, and you get to be part of that. so congratulations, and i look forward to working with you. [applause] president chiu: this has been

an emotional day, and i first would like to start with a moment of silence for a horrific tragedy that occurred this morning in arizona. i think some of you have heard that there are 18 individuals who are shot, including a congresswoman and a federal judge. if we could have a moment of silence on their behalf, please. president chiu: thank you. first of all, welcome to the board chamber. this is the people's house. this is your house. i want to first start by thanking two individuals who up

to now have been the two most important people in my life. my mother and my father. my immigrant parents, my father a doctor, my mother a teacher, who taught me everything i know about public service. thank you for changing my diapers. [laughter] thank you for putting up with me for 40 years. and if you wouldn't indulge me, mom and dad, could you stand up to be acknowledged by everyone here? [applause] we have many thanks. i also want to thank my constituents in district three for giving me this incredible honor of serving you. i want to thank my staff. katherine, juddson, victor. i think as, colleagues, you know, we only look good because of all the work that they do.

i want to thank all the city officials that are here and the city staff for your tremendous sacrifice and your public service. and, colleagues, i want to thank all of you for the tremendous honor of serving as your board president. i have learned an incredible amount over the past two years, and i pledge to you, i will serve as i most ably can over r represents a changing of the guard, a transition. we are saying thank you and goodbye to mayor newsom and to our last colleagues who were elected in the early part of 2000 and we are welcoming a new interim mayor and four new colleagues. a few months ago, our city had a tressel brace. a group of young people who came

to san francisco from all over the world came together. they were underestimated, considered a rag tag bunch, they combined their individual talents and they built an incredible team and became the 2010 world series champions, the san francisco giants. [applause] if i could think of a metaphor today for who we are as a board of supervisors, i think that the giants are a good example, and not just because we have a couple of beards here on the board that we ought to fear. we are a young board. eight of us have served for less than two years, but we have a tremendous amount of talent. we now have seven law degrees on the board. we have six masters degrees on

the board. with our new incoming class, we have a civil rights attorney, a deputy city attorney, a venture capitalist, the founder of a small business. we span the diversity of our neighbors, the diversity of our demographics, the dersty of our political perspectives, and starting on tuesday, we are going to come together to play for the first time as a team. now, we need to figure out fast thousand do this because we have many challenges in front of us. within very short order we are going to have to tackle a budget deficit of almost $400 million without any of the budget tricks we've been able to use in years past. we are going to have to figure out how to collaborate to bring down our looming pension and health care benefits. we're going to have to figure out how to continue to provide basic city services while taking care of the most vulnerable in

san francisco. we're going to have to do this together. as we think about doing this, we know that we're going to have to move beyond the past, move beyond the past oppositional politics of personality, where if the mayor or some members of the board take one position, others have to take a position in opposition. none of us were voted into this office toe take positions. we were voted into office to get things done. [applause] we were voted into office to create jobs to, make sure muni runs on time, to make sure our streets are safe and clean, and again to make sure that the least fortunate among us is

taken care of. we can only get thingenings done if we work together, with our new interim mayor, with each other and with all of you here from the community. building consensus issues not about ignoring differences. i think it is foolhardy to not recognize that we have really real defenses. but building consensus is about acknowledging that we have differentials and working through those with our hard work. that is what leadership is about, what is what government is about, and that is what we will be about here at the board of supervisors. now, here in san francisco, we are blessed to live in the most amazing city in the entire world, and as we move forward this second decade of the 21st century, we have to solve some very serious questions about our future, about who we are, about

who we want to be, and about how we will carry out our shared progressive values, exemplified by the namesake of st. francis. i look forward to working with you here rat the board to doing this work, to leading together together, here as elected officials, as public servants, and as san francisco cans in this beautiful city by the bay in our beautiful city of san francisco. thank you very much. [applause] and at that time let me ask madam clerk, do we have any more business in front of our board? >> that concludes our business for today, mr. president. supervisor chiu: our meeting for today is officially adjourned.