-- irrespective of the issue. there will never be another eric assada. if there was one thing that defined him, it was this constant drive to make the world a better place, and i think that is something that he demonstrated throughout his life and especially in the last few months of his life. the fact is that even as eric was going through what he was going through, i would still get the calls, what are the issue was. we as elected officials, we need that perspective, we need that voice of someone who can shed light on the very important issues that come our way. because it is easy sometimes for those issues to get lost here in

city hall. i could always trust that there could tell me -- eric could tell me in a simple way what was right and what was wrong. that is something i am going to mess and that is something that i feel very honored that i had the opportunity to get to know him that way. i also know that the kind of person he was, that kind of person he remains in our hearts, it is not something that happened because of who eric was, it is also the people around him and you can see the amazing people in this room, each one of them has accomplished amazing things and i want to single out his mom who is here. there is nothing more formative then the example that your parents give you. i know that eric was an amazing person who was because of the example of his parents. as supervisor for district 9, it

has been such an honor for me to get thito know this family. he will live in our hearts forever. and i think that i hope you understand how much he was loved, not only by his neighbor neighbors and community, i am also very proud of his -- the fact he was proud of his culture, his heritage. i cannot say enough about an amazing human being. i am very proud that we as an institution took the time to acknowledge what eric has meant to our community. president chiu: supervisor kim. supervisor kim: i am a co- sponsor and i want to thank the family for being here. we actually more the loss of several activists and leaders. as we mourn their absence, is it

-- it is important we celebrate their work and their accomplishments. eric has been a tremendously important voice in a movement that has pushed neighborhoods and low-income communities directly central in our land use and planning process, processes that had eluded our average citizens for so long. we continue in our discussion about the use of our land and who are city is for. eric has been one of the central voices in all that. i am proud to be in a movement in which deryk calls his family. i wanted to speak on behalf of my office. there has been entered -- eric has mentored several. i celebrate his life and his work, and we have to honor that

by continuing this year. i think we can all say that his impact is felt and we see it everyday in our city. thank you. president chiu: supervisor avalos. supervisor avalos: i have a voicemail message from eric from february of this year. to the very end, even in the amount of pain he was living in, he had such a coat and such drive -- had such hope and such drive. there was a community of

powerful women, powerful man, people committed to social justice. that belief in a better world i think is what drove him and made him just incredible person he was. i cannot think of a more fitting partner for eric than lorena. what an amazing woman she is. i met her at the janitor's union in 2004. what a spirit that he has. what -- she has. what an amazing woman who is carrying on his family and legacy. we all have that wonderful relationship and we will be with her and have her back in years to come. i do not think i have had the ability to come to terms with his passing just that. it is going to hit all of us, it

will be like a ton of bricks as the days go on. i am looking forward to being with community on sunday. eric has been so much to me. he has met so much to me, i have learned so much from him. i agree with supervisor campos's earmark. he had the ability to cut through all this static and get to the core of what was going on. if i was ever in a room where we are all confused, having eric in the room was always something i welcome to get our thoughts and thinking in a more clear direction. there is amazing things i have done with eric over the years. the thing i am most proud of is the creation of the immigrant legalization network. that has done amazing work in

bringing a lot of different communities from all over the city together and organizing for the rights of young people, the rights of families, the rights of workers. that is something i am so proud of and has left a lasting mark on the work he has brought. i wanted to congratulate all of us on the wonderful relationship we have had with eric and lorena. good to see you. my heart is broken, but my will is strong. president chiu: supervisor mar. supervisor mar: i want to say so much has already been said and so much will be set over the years. we all know that his spirit will live on with all of us.

there are so many corners he has touched, so many people, so many communities. he will always be a part of us for as long as we are doing activist work we need to do. i want to thank his family, not just his direct family, but his family of supporters for all that you have done. we all continue together. supervisor mirkarimi: i look forward to sunday. he had a common touch and he was a great teacher. >> thank you for being here, lorena and wendy, and so many family and friends. if you like to make some brief remarks. -- would like to make some brief remarks.

>> i wanted to thank you both as eric's wife and partner in crime. also, thank you as an organizer because i am also an organizer and he makes me proud to live in the city, that our city will give recognition to an organizer, that does not happen very often, especially an organizer that gave this city hell. so, it is a real honor, not only for eric but all the people that came before him and also that mentored him. the people that worked alongside him for all these years, and for all of us who continue to do the work. i wanted to say thank you. i look forward to seeing you on sunday. also, i look forward to seeing you in the continued fight to make sure our city continues to be for families and we do the right thing so thank you.

i am proud to be a san franciscan. i live here. so, thank you very much. >> i wanted to also thank you. wendy and some of the others who worked with him. thank you. [applause] president chiu: madame clerk. >> today's memory -- meeting will be adjourned on behalf of mr. arthur evans and shawn wilson. and mr. anthony

[unintelligible] and mr. eric quesada. president chiu: is there any more business in front of the board? >> that includes business. president chiu: ladies and gentlemen, we are adjourned.

>> hello. 9 judge terri l. jackson. the court is now recruiting prospective civil grand jurors. our goal is to develop a pool of candidates that is inclusive of all segments of our city's population. >> the jury conducts investigations and publishes findings and recommendations. these reports them become a key part of the civic dialog on how we can make san francisco a better place to live and work. >> i want to encourage anyone that is on the fence, is considering participating as a grand jury member, to do so. >> so if you are interested in our local city government and would like to work with 18 other enthusiastic citizens committed to improving its operations, i encourage you to consider applying for service on the civil grand jury. >> for more information, visit the civil grand jury website at sfgov.org/courts or call

>> san francisco and the league of california cities 113th annual conference. i'm mike casperzack, vice mayor of the city of mountain view and your league's first vice president. your league president, jim rightenour, mayor of modesto, who we see on the screen here, could not be with us today. so they called in the second string. jim had some recent health issues, but by all accounts he's doing very well. he's back at home and i'm waiting for him to pick up his blackberry so we can start texting again. let's keep him in our thoughts and prayers, though, as we work together during the next three days. now, won't you please join me again in thanking today's opening ceremony's participants including the san francisco police department color guard and byron pope from beverly

hills. we have a great city clerk from mountain view but she doesn't sing like birom. let's give it up for them both. your annual conference is a critical time for our entire league to come together, learn, and celebrate this year's accomplishments as we plan ahead for the coming year. cities are the cornerstone of our great state, and this year's conference theme is, cities standing strong for cities. we are stronger individually when we are strong collectively, and that is precisely why your league of california cities exists. we are 482 separate cities, but the league's efforts for all california cities ensure that each city is stronger. it's our strength together that has been instrumental in the league's advocacy this year. last year, we successfully

passed proposition 22 which provided strong protections for local revenues. did you know that this was our fourth, or depending on how you count, if you include 1998 and 1999 at one and two, fourth or fifth straight victory at the ballot box. your league has truly become a powerful force in the state political arena. [applause] but who would have guessed that just a few months later, in january of this year, our newly elected governor would announce his intention to eliminate redevelopment agencies throughout california in a way that clearly violates the new california constitution. in the process, his proposal would have killed 300,000 private sector jobs that redevelopment finances each year. the governor's proposal sparked an outcry not only by city

officials, but by many others concerned about the devastating economic impact such an action would have on local communities and the state as a whole. despite our collective efforts, the governor's proposal was modified, in part, and married with another unconstitutional bill to extort huge ransoms from the state if we want to avoid ex extinction of our r.d.a.'s. the league hasn't taken that action lying down, either. but i wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your efforts in passing proposition 22 and for our efforts to save redevelopment and let's give ourselves a round of applause for that work. [applause] now, you'll notice in your program that we were supposed to be joined today by james mitchell, the president of the flacial league of cities, but

for reasons of business, he was not able to get out to california from charlotte where he serves as a council member. james is a great guy, a strong proponent of california cities, and i know he passes on his best wishes for us all. now, turning our attention to the annual conference, the reason why we're all here in this great city. let's focus on what's ahead for the conference this week. the program is designed to provide you with information and resources that you can take back to your cities and put directly into action. we are here in san francisco to learn from the experts and each other over the course of the conference. both the on-site program and the conference-at-a-glance page you received at registration will help you navigate the sessions, meetings and events.

look for an expo map to identify the 240 companies exhibiting in this year's expo. i know you won't want to miss the expo tomorrow and friday where you'll find many products and services that can help your city. if you'll permit me to to make a shameless commercial plug, please look at page 34 in your conference program and circle booth 908. here's the reason for that. we're plugging this booth because it's ours and all of yours. it's california communities and u.s. communities. these organizations provide important products and services to cities at a great discount and both are an important part of the league and help keep your league dues as low as possible. when you visit the expo tomorrow, stop by booth 908 to learn more about how your city can access tax-exempt financing and pooled purchasing power.

the expo opens at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow and closes at 5:00 p.m. also, don't forget to enter your city for one of three grand prizes being given on friday afternoon at the closing session. cardiac sciences is giving away two automated external defibrillators or a.e.d.'s, to two lucky cities. cool 'em technologies, whose founder is richard lowenthal, is giving one lucky city an electric vehicle charging station plus $1,000 towards its installation, and for those people starting to get electric cars, maybe a volt or a leaf, what's going to come in really handy. enter your city in the bin just inside the entrance to the expo hall. it goes without saying that your league staff is here to help

with any information or questions you may have about the conference. today, they're wearing black shirts, and tomorrow, they'll be in red shirts. let's give a big thank you to our league partners, the sponsors of this year's prestigious helen putnam awards and the partner's speaker's theater located on the expo floor. the partners are doing an hourly raffle at the partners village and will be giving away five kindles and five samsung galaxy tablets. you'll want to make sure you're compliant with all of the state gift rules. one item will be drawn every hour starting at noon tomorrow. the league partners village features the companies and organizations that work closely with the league on behalf of cities. your partners provide expert information and help frame issues, develop programs for cities and help influence policy making in the interests of

cities. be sure to say hello to the league partners who are here for this annual conference. they're wearing white ribbons identifying them as league partners. so please give them a special thank you as you go around and visit them at the expo and thank them for being league partners because they do help make your league a better organization so that it can help all of california's cities stand strong for cities. now, before i introduce our host, san francisco mayor ed lee, i want to highlight tonight's activities. first, from 6:00 to 7:00, we have the host city reception conveniently located right outside the hall here on the third level foyer as you exit the session. at 7:15, head north up mission street one block to the saint regis hotel for the sixth annual leadership gala casino night which helps support city pack

and without city pack, we wouldn't have had proposition 22. so, enough of the public service announcements. we are excited and honored to be in san francisco, consistently rated as one of the most popular cities in the world, for this year's 113th annual conference. the state's fourth largest city has hosted our conference several times and we are thrilled to be back. please help me in welcoming san francisco mayor ed lee. [applause] mayor lee: good afternoon. and welcome. welcome to the world series champion city and county of san francisco. i may not be much of a politician, but i certainly know

how to trash talk. and i want you to know that that's how i introduce myself when i'm at the u.s. conference of mayors. i kind of say, hey, i'm ed lee, i'm the mayor of the world champion city of san francisco, what are you mayor of? i wanted to welcome all of you here to moscone center, our center of conventions and also to san francisco. and i hope you are enjoying the weather. as mayor of san francisco, i like to welcome you to our city. it's a small city that dares to dream big, bound only by our capacity to imagine. and i would also like to welcome you to the greenest city in north america. i'm so pleased that i'm able to welcome you here today and many of you know, i used to be the city's administrator before i became mayor. and as a result, i've seen things from both sides.

as a long time public servant, and now as mayor. so i have a pretty good idea on how and what it takes to make a city run so i want to thank each and every one of you for all of your good work because your commitment to your communities and your maintaining the citizens' trust in government, that's what we have to do as cities today. whether you've been in government for just a few days, a few months, or for many years, it's always nice ton that your work is appreciated and i do appreciate all the members of the california league and everyone that works in our cities. and we'll be celebrating some of that good work here today when the winners of the helen putnam awards are honored. in these challenging economic times, we're all faced with unacceptably high unemployment,

the demands of a shrinking budget and the potential for tough choices in making public sector layoffs. despite all of this, we are working hard to maintain the quality of services and programs our residents deserve while balancing the economic constraints that we're all facing. san francisco, like most cities, has significantly been affected by the state's budgetary crisis. i continue to be very concerned about redevelopment, public safety realignment and the programmatic reductions that have been enacted, all of which will harm our ability to create jobs, building the housing and infrastructure we need, and hurt the residents of our communities. on redevelopment, i, like many of you, have been focused on protecting important development projects that are working to create jobs, invest in our infrastructure and affordable housing and rebuild our

communities. the league of california cities has played a leadership role in the fight against the unwise elimination of redevelopment, and i want to thank all of you for that. in san francisco, we are focused on transformational projects which will have a major impact on san francisco, as well as the entire region, projects that will connect our communities, connect our cities, connect our regions, and connect our states, projects like the transbay terminal which will be the northern terminus of our california high-speed rail, or the central subway project, which will help san franciscans create a world class 21st century transportation system that realizes our transit first policy, or projects like treasure island, a base reuse project that will create thousands of new housing units and an entirely new neighborhood

in san francisco, or projects like our hunters point shipyard project that will be transforming communities, revitalizing neighborhoods, keeping our families in our cities with thousands of units of housing, parklands, and allow us to build a world class stadium to keep the san francisco 49ers right here in our city, projects like these throughout the state will make a big difference in our economic recovery. as you may also know, i'm a big supporter of high-speed rail. i believe it really needs to be part of our transportation future. this issue is critical to me as a mayor because our economic future depends upon people being able to move throughout our state with ease on roads, rails and in the skies. currently, nearly one-third of all of our air traffic from

san francisco international airport is for flights from san francisco to the los angeles area. for those of you who have flown into s.f.o., you have noticed that our airport has no room to expand. what this means is that we have to find ways to shift the san francisco-to-los angeles air draft out of the skies and on to the rails. by moving towards high-speed rail, we not only improve the transportation system in the state, but we also improve our local economy by providing more opportunities for commerce and tourism. i hope that, as leaders in our communities, we can work together to ensure that the promise of high-speed rail is delivered to all californians. finally, i'd just like to thank you for coming here to san francisco and to invite you back. as many of you know, we are hosting the 34th america's cup, the third largest international

sporting event in the world. thank you. [applause] america's cup will be a spectacular event and i hope that you will come back to san francisco and to the other communities around the bay area to enjoy world class sailing on our bay. by the way, if you're from southern california, there will be preliminary races this november in san diego, so you can get a taste of what these competitors can do. and i also want to welcome my good friend who's going to be speaking this afternoon on your keynote. that's chris vene who used to be our chief information officer, and now he's working at the white house as the deputy information officer, technology officer for the white house. i welcome him in, as well. again, thank you for being here. the league of california cities, thank you for enjoying our weather, our convention center. and i wish you well in af