neighborhood project to break with 59 rooms across san francisco. i am particularly pleased because i know the work they will do in my district. by the way, welcome to district 3 here in union square. [applause] the district you are sitting in now represents the oldest and most historic neighborhoods here in san francisco. we are an old neighborhood. we have a lot of buildings that are fragile and that need seismic ups graves -- upgrades. where the densest neighborhood outside of manhattan. -- we are the densest neighborhood outside of manhattan. our ability to be safe depends on preparedness and the generosity of your programs. your efforts are not unnoticed. as a community, all of us need to come together on a regular basis to insure that we will

continue to be the best city and the united states and the safest city in the united states. -- to the best city in the united states and the safest city in the united states. thank you for being here. [applause] >> thank you so much for this wonderful words. he is right. we have been very busy in his district. he makes sure we do it right. it is a pleasure to have leadership like we have in the mayor and the president of the board of supervisors to support us in many ways. i am looking for victor. he is always out there helping us with disasters. we're almost at the end. i want to ask if the board of directors from pg&e r year --

are here. yes, thank you. [applause] i would love it if the volunteers who are out there in the middle of the night to see to it that this community is cared for in their hour of need -- please raise your hands. volunteers, say thanks to them. [applause] we are almost done. we have a fantastic neighbor on the other side of the bay in oakland. we have a new mayor over there

who was not able to make it. she asked us sue piper to join s today. please join me in welcoming her. [applause] >> good morning. it is almost afternoon. earthquakes, fires, and disasters do not know city boundaries. this effort is about making sure that northern california is the most prepared. i am here to represent mayor kwan and the city of oakland in supporting you in your efforts. we're also very concerned. we have the hayward fault that goes through our committee. it has a major quake every 130 years. we are two years overdue. the clock is ticking. our city has worked hard to organize its neighborhoods and prepared.

the program was founded in 1989. it was the model for nert. have trained about 20,000 people all over the city in english, chinese, spanish, vietnamese. we have a similar effort to san francisco in terms of working with the institutions in our community to be prepared for disasters and recovery. we are about to make a program public in a couple of weeks that we've organized with a vulnerable communities like the handicapped and seniors. when they need a place to shelter, we are prepared. we have worked it out in advance. the reality is that this does not work unless neighbors are prepared block by block. i come as a representative of the mayor and a survivor of the 1989 storm. i can tell you that the cavalry does not come to save you. it is neighbors saving neighbors.

think about the images of japan with people pulling others up the hill. that is why is so important for us to be prepared. there are a couple of things people need to remember. make a plan. when a disaster occurs somewhere else, think about what you would do in that disaster. that is the plan. in the middle of a disaster. you do not think with your head. you think with your gt. that is a lot of time to make a plan. -- that is not the time to make a plan. plan ahead. put together a disaster kits. you can get prepared thank god we have technology these days. yourself phone -- your cell phone is very helpful. you can put in your medications and contact people. you have it with you at all times. make it part of your everyday

life. then you will be prepared. it is not a matter of if we're going to have a disaster. it is a matter of when. the clock is ticking. we need to help each other. i congratulate pg&e and san francisco in their work. i wanted to know that oakland is right there with you on it. -- i want you to know that oakland is right there with you on it. [applause] >> with that, a final thought. every year, we measure the preparedness level and the bay area. we received the latest survey results yesterday. 20% of our residents reported they had taken through three steps she just talked about. making the plans, building a kid, and making sure you are informed and have trading. this% to slightly lower than the 22% that we had at the end of

our prepare bay area campaign. the real call to action highlighted by the survey is that we need to make sure we are preparing the most full honorable. that is where we need your help and support to make sure we target in and help those who will need the greatest amount of help at the time of great need. across all demographics and neighborhoods, one belief held true. that is the belief that neighbors helping neighbors of disaster. after disaster means that we win. sue talked about the neighbors as the first responders in japan. the cavalry comes later. do everything you can to be prepared. all of our speakers have been wonderful. they will now be available for interviews with members of the press.

we are having a prep rally after this where we will be teaching folks to be prepared. we hope you can stick around for that. ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for being here. let the prep rally begin. [applause] >> good evening, and welcome to the 31st annual mfac awards.

[applause] hello, everyone. i am your mc tonight for the good government awards, and i'm so excited tonight. we have such great winners, exciting guests. first, i want to quickly acknowledge some of our fabulous officials in the house. we have supervisors chu, elsbernd, wiener, mar, mirkarimi, chiu, former supervisor alioto-pier, our treasurer, the mayor's chief of staff, and our controller. let's give them a round of applause. [applause] the mfac awards have become sort

of like the oscars of city hall, and you're going to have a great show tonight. before we get to that, i want to think -- take a quick moment to thank the folks that really make it possible. we go to a lot of events and see a lot of folks who sponsor these, and i can tell you it is amazing who is always the first folks to step up when it is time to support something really valuable. i want to take a few minutes to thank all the folks who made tonight possible, who are providing an excellent open bar in the back and all the great food you are eating tonight. first, i want to thank jack, dick blum with blum capital, pg&e, the johnson company, and we have an anonymous donor, and i know pam brewster know something about that, so give her a big round of applause. those are our donors tonight. give them a round of applause.

i also want to thank the academy of art university, bank of the west, clear channel, outdoor, who has put up all the winners. he might have seen your pictures on all the bus stops around city hall. i want to thank comcast, the fisher family, kpmg, pb, the business times, the san francisco forty-niners, recology, the san francisco international airport. once again, a big round of applause to all our supporters. now, i would like to thank the person who makes all this possible, the executive director from spur.

[applause] >> it is great to see all of you here, and that is really sweet of you to calm down for a minute on the talking. when the winners get up, seriously, everybody, try not to talk. it is intimidating to get in front of a crowd of people, and this room is so gorgeous, but you know, it is the acoustics. scott wiener, i'm talking to you. [laughter] he is so tall, i can pick him out in a crowd. for those of you who do not know, spur is a member-supported non-profit organization. any of you who are not yet members, i hope you will join. we helped start mfac in the late 1970's. we took over management a few years ago, and this is a core part of our work to promote good government. we could not do it without all of you make this possible.

any of you who are not members, please join, and you can help us provide the support to have an effective government. thank you for being here. we are working right now on a whole bunch of projects from what to do about sea level rise, getting muni the support it needs, what to do it redevelopment goes away, or maybe it went away today -- i did not know. there is a lot of things happening in the city. thank you for your support of the good government aw call up e stage the chair of the 2011 good government awards, michael walker. [applause] >> good evening. i'm michael walker, president of u.s. bank of northern california, and it is my pleasure to serve as chair of the 31st annual mfac good

government awards. u.s. bank is honored to support these terrific city leaders because they are doing work that makes san francisco a wonderful place to work. those of you devote your careers to public service developed -- deserve the gratitude from those who benefit from the work you do but often times do not get the credit you so richly deserve. government works because people make it work. in this city alone, tens of thousands of dedicated public servants work every day to make sure we have functioning roads for commerce, great parts for our families, and strong safety nets for when we get sick or become unemployed. and they make sure that we do this using the taxpayers' money wisely. the individual and teams that we

are honoring this evening are the backbone of our local government. our businesses, our families, and yes, our fund could not operate without the strong, healthy, and responsive government that these leaders provide. that is why we are here tonight to celebrate, and that is why u.s. bank is so proud to be associated with this event. now, it is my pleasure to introduce a person who personifies these awards and demonstrates what good government is all about. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the mayor of san francisco, mr. edwin lee. [applause] mayor lee: good evening. as you know, i usually do not read speeches, so i'm just going to talk of the top of my head, but also, really, from my heart.

for 21 years, working in san francisco government, i have seen a lot of departments, worked in a few myself, and when these awards came, oftentimes, i kind of said to my cell that it would be need to get one of those awards. somebody will recognize the work that gets done here. as i went through years before of these awards, i often thought maybe during these first few years that -- is it about a new program? are we recognizing new programs? is it all about maybe people getting out of the way so that the new program can get recognized? maybe that is what it is all about. over the years, it has been more difficult to get news programs started and more about how we

reshape government and make it better from within. that is what i have been trying to do for some years. and i know that the awardees tonight are not so much about new programs. they are about retooling and about making government more efficient and better, so that it was not any longer about making people move out and get away so that you could shine as a department head or a division manager or program leader. it is more about how you got other people involved in what you are doing, about how an idea and how a better idea can get more people to rally around it and move on their roles in implementing a better government. that is why i have been increasing this program for so many years and -- embracing this program for so many years and

really thanks for for the effort you have put into it. -- really thank spur for the efforts you have put into it. i want to thank michael for introducing me but also for agreeing -- for being a great sponsor. and for chris, for sponsoring this event of being a big sponsor of this effort for many years. i also want to thank all the departments i have had a chance to work with because it is from all of your efforts and encouragement and particularly the department heads and managers -- you know, tonight, you do not have someone that is elected. you have someone from the inside. i want to thank all of you because you have been supportive of it, embraced these great ideas, and allow your managers to shine and support them when they have new ideas. whether it is an idea that has

to corral a lot of people and get them to prioritize what they're capital planning is all about -- what their capital planning is all about, it is really hard to do to focus on what the priorities are for the managers of the city. on -- or whether it is teaching a new immigrant or a new people water the diseases we have and how we can prevent them and how we can speak in a multitude of languages so that our city can have a better approach to preventing diseases. it will be about how some of the greatest assets in our open spaces can be used by everybody through a reservation system or kermit's. it will be about how you find new revenue and manage those assets at our airport, or how you can look people in the eye

and say, open " i can help you develop a job skill and get jobs for you now." every one of these projects tonight -- they are not so new as it is about the leadership that these individuals and teams have created. not move people out of the way for their recognition, but brought a lot of people back in and moved them in a better direction, moved them to be more efficient. that is why i embrace these awards tonight, and it is with support of departments, with support of all of the elected officials here tonight, as well as others, and it is the partnership we have with spur that we had the opportunity to recognize this effort, so please, tonight, join me in recognizing all the honorees, recognizing what they do for us tonight, but also to remember they are not doing so much as something brand new -- they are

fulfilling promises that we have made for many years. that we improved as time goes on. that we make things better for everybody's lives. in each one of these areas, we have made lives better, improve the life for all of our citizens. i thank you all for being here tonight. thank you. [applause] >> please welcome to capital planning program team -- please welcome the capital planning program team. having been nominated by the then city administrator, mayor edwin lee. also been honored, the acting city administrator, amy brown. [applause]

>> i will just say a couple of very quick words. thank you very much to spur and everyone for this recognition. we really appreciate it. we really do spend a lot of time behind our desks, but every so once and awhile, we get out to the new library, the hospital, and some of the wonderful assets the city has. i would like to echo what the mayor was saying about collaboration. we have to say no to a lot of people who need or want more investments in the facilities that they manage. we also have to your note from lots of other people who we request from. -- we also have to hear no from lots of other people. through that, we still have to work together and put together something that we are proud of and that the city can be proud of. we hope that assets like this wonderful room we are in are going to have a really long life and support the great culture and the great things that make

us so proud of being part of this city. thank you. [applause] >> please welcome dana ketchum, having been nominated by phil ginsburg. >> hello, everyone. i want to thank you for this honor. i want to follow a little bit of what the mayor said.

all of you can make a difference. do not look at a problem and say that it is too complex or to political to create improvement. for years, managers throw up their hands when faced with changing permits and reservations. finally, a goal was set to organize, treat everyone fairly and consistently, and become more transparent. there were two key factors that allowed these changes to be made. first, we analyze and collected the facts and made a plan. you need to do the work to dig deep into the problem. yes, you have to dig into the leaves, not just the big picture sometimes. that takes time, but it is essential. second, to implement change, you need support from others. second, there are others that benefit greatly from the new and old system. as they work through these

changes, our department head and commission stood beside us, armed with our work and analysis. they were not swayed when confronted by the public. similarly, all the members of the board of supervisors and the mayor's office ask questions but supported our efforts. i want to thank all of you. it was essential. you can make changes. i urge all of you to look for ways to do it. i am going to continue to try. thank you. [applause] >> please welcome cheryl, having been nominated by john martin,

head of the san francisco international airport. [applause] >> i'm surprised and deeply appreciative of receiving this award. john martin is a visionary leader. when i tell about him, i say that he is amazing and the smartest man in the room. likewise, my boss. i appreciate working for people who are highly intelligent and a challenge me. san francisco international airport is a dynamic and complex operation, to continually tried to meet the challenges of the job. my staff works hard for me. i'm humbled to be their leader and try hard to do a good job for them. my one regret is not enough hours in the day. i have to force myself to go home at the end of the day

because i have a family waiting for me. on a happier note, i have a job that allows me to ponder how i like to shop and what i like to eat. and what other people might like to eat at the airport, and i get to go out into this great city and look for new concepts that will perform well for us. my impression of san francisco as a relative newcomer is that it is a city that strives for, foster's innovation, creativity, and excellence. it feels like a place of great hope to me, a place of high ideals, a place of confidence. i believe or i know that we at the airport have very high standards set by our leadership, the city's leadership, but i think also set by the spirit of this city. i drive over the hill, we call it, every night along the coast,

and i still cannot believe that i get to live and work here. john and leo had given me a lot of freedom to be more creative, and for that, i'm thankful. my husband and children have given me a lot of freedom to spend time at work and thinking about work and talking about work, and for that, i'm thankful. i could not do it without my dear husband who takes care of our daughter, the most important job in the world to me, and for my children being patient with the time i am away from them. thank you for recognizing sfo, a great airport, for recognizing me, and congratulations to all the nominees and recipients. [applause]

[applause] >> i do not know about you, but i feel a lot safer knowing that dr. ferniak is working for san francisco. honored by barbara garcia of the department of health. [applause] >> thank you very much. you know, the video release says it all. we live in an amazing place, and if you think back to the spring of 2009 when other hospitals in the bay area had to put up special tents because people were panicked about h1n1, and in san francisco, we had a really calm population, all the way from the mayor to the board of supervisors to the department head to the general