certain communities and disproportionately communities of color that are not going to be able to meet the financial obligations that come as part of a historic district. i appreciate the extent to which some of these changes come from the recognition and from that perspective. that is very valid, and i applaud the authors for including that in there. the challenge i have with this provision is i do think that requiring of the vote in the survey does treat historic preservation severally. it is a tool that can be used for or against whatever the objective is. i do not see historic preservation as the panacea to affordable housing the way that some have proposed it. at the same time, i do not see affordable historic preservation was the enemy of affordable housing in low-income

communities. like any tool, it can be used in different ways. my feeling is though that the best way to treat something as complex as historic preservation is to simply have a balanced approach. toomey, a balanced approach means that you do not require additional step, and additional boat, or survey in one area but not require it in another. that is why this amendment is being presented. it is in that spirit. i appreciate the perspective that has been outlined by supervisor cohen and supervisor wiener. i think they have very good points. i just have a different perspective. thank you. supervisor olague: i wanted to mention i do not see this as a panacea to affordable housing. is time to create an industry and we cannot ignore historically it has had certain impacts on certain committees that have not been positive. i hope in the future we use it

as a tool to preserve all the things we value, like affordable housing and other things. i do not think there is anything we have drafted in articles 10 and 11 that we are presenting today that prohibit that. to that end, i wanted to make a comment of that and hope in the future we see it used as a tool to preserve those things we value and i am sure it will be used in that way in the future. >> madam clerk, will call on the campos amendment. >> supervisor mar, aye. supervisor olague, aye. supervisor wiener, no. supervisor, aye. supervisor cohen campus, aye. president chiu, aye. supervisor chu, no. supervisor: , no,. c -- cohen, no.

supervisor elsbernd: the amendment passes. rocco, please. supervisor wiener, aye. surber browser at los, no. seubert izard campos, no. -- supervisor campos, no. supervisor elsbernd, aye. supervisor farrell, aye. degreaser kim, aye. there are eight ayes. -- supervisor kim, aye. supervisopresident chiu: this id as a mendon.

>> you have called that, it is now the 3:30 p.m. special order for the recognition of asian pacific heritage month. supervisor chiu: i want to welcome all of you to the board chamber and to the folks who are about to be announced today. after over when hundreds 60 years, the asian american community here, we have made our mark and i want to thank all of you for the leadership you have been demonstrating and the diversity of our communities all over the city. this is a day that many of us look forward to as a way to acknowledge the work that is being done. i would like to take a moment and acknowledge the organizer of the heritage month, who has organized a schedule of events. is claudine chen her? she has stepped out. when she steps back in, i will

ask her to make a few brief comments. as is our custom, each of us has decided to it knowledge an individual within our community who exemplifies the best of what our community is offering. having just seen the list of all the recipients of today's acknowledgments, i wish i could personally acknowledge each of them. each of us are looking forward to supporting the acknowledgments we're making two different individuals today because they're not just terrace within our district but they are heroes through all of san francisco. with that, colleagues, i was going to start in alphabetical order but i realized the beginning of the alphabet, supervisor avalos has stepped up. i will go in reverse alphabetical order. we will start with supervisor wiener from district 8. why do we start with supervisor wiener? thank you.

supervisor wiener: thank you. i would like to ask my lottery to come up -- honoree to come up. [applause] jane, as someone who i've gotten to know because of her involvement in the community, and specifically with the cooperative nursery school in the middle of glen canyon, for those of you who have not been tube silver tray or not been to the nursery school, it is truly amazing and magical and unique place and i am always said if i were to have kids, i would want to send their forces in school, it is in the middle of the wilderness. jane has been so involved in -- with the school overtime and has not gone away.

every time i ever go there for whether it is for an event or a clean up or they have repented the building, jane is always there and is so committed to this institution. we know in san francisco that is hard to raise a family here. one of the things that makes it possible is having institutions like glen ridge that make it possible for people to have a wonderful experiences for their kids. it is such a pleasure for me to get to know you over the last few years, to work with you, to be able to work together and support each other. i am thrilled to be able to honor you here today. [applause]

>> thank you so much. i am deeply humbled and honored to be here today. i want to thank you for taking time out of your clearly very busy agenda to acknowledge and reflect upon some of the work in the committee and i want to thank supervisor wiener for your leadership in the committee and the district. you talk about commitment. i am continually amazed by your engagement and your ability to be obsolete -- absolutely everywhere. not only physically but in presence as well. i'm joined by some amazing friends and my family, my husband and kids who challenged me to go to new levels every single day of my life. my sons, i want to thank them for being here. it is tough to raise a family

sometimes in the city. they're part of our village and want to thank them. a quick word as supervisor wiener said. we're in the first year of operations this year. we over the 41 years have been nurturing and fostering and strengthening a very positive relationship with the city and this relationship is -- has materialized through a lease we have through rec and park. as part of the 40th anniversary, we raised tens of thousands of dollars to address some much- needed repairs, repairs that benefit not only directly kids and families but also the many hundreds of kids who go through the building over the summer. i was working out in the schools they cleaning bathrooms. it was a place where people from all over the city come together and rub shoulders and work

together. as i mentioned, clinging to the bathroom to running the board. this comes from a commitment not only from parents to the school but the school to the kids and i am glad to be part of this organization. thank you for acknowledging us as an organization. just a quick personal note. supervisor wiener knows the timeliness of this for me is quite exciting. i get to go to a ceremony to become a citizen of this country. it reminds me of all of our civic responsibility and obligations. i will hold that dear to my heart from this point on. thank you so much again for acknowledging our school. i appreciate it. thank you. [applause] president chiu: i do see claudine cheng is here. i would like to invite her to

sit few words in regards to this event. >> thank you supervisor -- thank you, supervisor. may is asian pacific heritage month. we really appreciate your presence. if some of you are not familiar with the history, it started as a week in 1970 -- 1978 every year. it became federal law that the country should set all -- celebrate it. the city has been having this coordinated celebration within our communities, within the asian pacific american world in coordinating every year celebration since 2005. every year, we had a different theme for the celebration.

this year, the theme is advancing education. we felt that despite a lot of stereotypical believes out there that asians are doing well in school, there is a big population out there especially of new immigrant populations that we need to do it better and saw the achievement gap. there many services needed for our population. hopefully we will see a lot of them around town because we want to do a good job of promoting public awareness. and want to thank you for your participation by honoring each of you, an asian pacific american in your district. i will stop [unintelligible] for each one of you. i hope you will probably where it during this month. this is our eighth year we have

been using this, since 2005. supervisor avalos, would you pass it around? great for a photo op with your arteries -- honorees. thank you, president to come off for your time -- chiu for your time. president chiu: supervisor christina olague. supervisor olague: i would like to recognize the japanese cultural and community center of northern california. i'm going to go ahead and read the whereases here. it is critical people recognize the level of commitment they have given to japanese citizens during their hour of great need,

and so i will just to share some facts with you. whereas the japanese serenity center was constructed in 1971 and they jccmc has served residents of san francisco and the broader japanese american committee, and a major 9.0 earthquake struck the coast of japan, triggering a devastating tsunami, resulting in 60,000 deaths and 3000 people missing, and as a result of the great earthquake and tsunami, a series of nuclear accidents happen ed, and on that same day, this organization organized a grassroots relief effort that established the northern japan earthquake relief fund to help the victims of the earthquake

and the northern japan relief fund has become the largest japanese american based relief fund in the u.s. and the northern japan earthquake relief fund has galvanized dollars and has raised over $4 million. they have played a critical role in coordinating relief efforts in ensuring the delivery of assistance to affected people in japan. that is a result. and recognizing its commitment to providing service to people in need and it's overwhelming dedication to supporting the japanese community in san francisco and beyond. on behalf of the san francisco board of supervisors, the japanese cultural and community center, northern california is being commended for their excellence and for their commitment to their heritage and their communities. i am proud to show them this

honor today. [applause] >> thank you very much, supervisor, for the acknowledgement. i am the board president. it is my privilege to be here today and to represent our organization. thank you very much, supervisors, for the time. we would like to thank supervisor kim. she coordinated fund-raising efforts on the board pose a side for relief efforts. it is with the participation of not just the city and county of san francisco but all the good people in northern california that we were able to raise so much money and to of the people of japan, especially in the region of tohoku.

thank you for the honor and letting us continue to do our job in san francisco. thank you. [applause] president chiu: our next acknowledgement will be made by supervisor mar. >> thank yosupervisor mar: than. i am so glad that claudine cheng and others have put their efforts into presenting a pan asian heritage month and current starters -- heritage month.

also with the community-based organizations that supported him. it is a story of a worker in san francisco standing up with tremendous courage, being involved with a struggle to stand up for his rights and the rights of his co-workers and a tremendous victory but with the support of a comedy based and grass-roots organizations in the committee. let me ask if he would come up. also from the chinese progressive association, we have a number of staff and representatives. we have jessie yu, and fay chen could not be here today. also from the asian law caucus is. thank you for being here. in the crowd also is lin chin as well. your tremendous inspiration,

your example that you set for other workers but also for people in san francisco is tremendous. he is a former restaurant worker. he showed remarkable leadership and courage by organizing his fellow chinese and vietnamese workers to stand together to take collective action to demand their employer respect their workplace rights and pay the wages and tips the world. the settlement which is $316,000 for the workers was only possible because he led his fellow co-workers across cultural and language barriers and lines to stand together to unite not just for themselves but for other workers who were too intimidated to file their own individual claims. they joined other workers and other workers of ethnic backgrounds in other neighborhoods. there was part of a movement in

san francisco but nationwide to stand up against wage theft. they agreed to/shared their stories with the public through the media, thereby inspiring more workers in similar situations to come forward and claim justice. supervisor campos and die with the support of many of you past and portent wage that ordinance -- theft ordinance. the aid workers from -- eight workers from clement were courageous as well. it worked 10 to 12 hours per day six or seven baht -- 67 days a week without being paid minimum wage or overtime. the workers were denied tips and proper meals and rest breaks and experienced exploitative

conditions not uncommon in many of the restaurants and other low-wage industries across the u.s. there are many good restaurants and employers. the bad restaurants are where the wage that coalition has gone after. the clement workers refused to accept this treatment and saw help from the asian law caucus and the chinese progress of association. with support, the state labor commissioner's office represented the workers and negotiated a major settlement for them with amounts owed plus $360,000. i want to thank diana chen from the association as well. cpa is celebrating its anniversary. i learned from the chinese progress of association in the early 1980's when i joined 30 years ago, we had a campaign and

we worked -- walked picket lines and i learned about working families in the city and we have to stand up for our rights. i was a law clerk in 1988 when she was one of the staff attorneys. there is a long history of the committee based groups that support the workers. i want to thank the community- based groups and courageous workers for their great example and the great story trade you a set an example for all desperate that me ask you would like to see some words and i have proclamations to give to you afterwards. >> hello. [speaking foreign language]

>> i would like to thank chinese oppressive association, the state of california and the division of labor standards enforcement and the asian law caucus and everyone else who helped me and my fellow co- workers regain our old wages. i hope workers find the courage to stand up for what is rightfully theirs. [applause] it was nice to work with all the workers. he set a very good example for many workers out there who face [unintelligible] every day.

this is a good example. if a worker is not afraid, if they're willing to stand up and with community help from different departments who have been willing to help them, they would be able to fight for their rights. thank you. >> am i to thank supervisor mar and the board of supervisors on behalf of the asian law caucus for this wonderful honor. it was an inspiration to work with the great workers to -- who were so committed to setting up together and standing up for their rights to. i also want to thank the board of supervisors for your leadership. it has had a huge impact in san francisco and -- lo -- also nationally. it is a great example of what can be done. supervisor mar: thank you for your example and thank you for

being one of our entrees -- honorees for asian pacific heritage month. thank you. [applause] [applause] president chiu: thank you for the fight against wage that. let me acknowledge supervisor kim from district 6. supervisor kim: thank you. as we talk about heritage month we talk a lot about celebrating

our accomplishments. what is most important is remembering the history and struggle that allowed us to get the accomplishments we have achieved, whether it is public schools or fighting for low-cost housing. as we celebrate having our first asian-american mayor and first asian-american board president and other leadership positions, decades of community organizing and leadership development that allowed us to be here today. i do consider myself one of those individuals that was incredibly fortunate to be mentored by activists who were there in 1977, who fought for the establishment of ethnic studies in 1969 in san francisco, who fought for housing in chinatown, and who fought to recognize the murder of vincent chan. i would like to acknowledge

another leader who has made an impact in my life. i would like to recognize a young student who had the courage to speak out because he was being deported just for being on document. -- undocumented. he is a college student. i get to recognize on the other spectrum one of our senior leaders in san francisco. he represents a group that i have long admired and have had the opportunity to work with over 10 years ago. it is a group of people that have been viewed as [unintelligible] because they are modeling tool in senior and first and come -- generation and low-income. they defied the stereotypes that people often have of our community. i think of something my mom once told me when i was in high school.

she responded, that is because they do not understand us. have those people been to chinatown? i want to acknowledge them today. if you could please come up. [applause] also, we're going to put up a photo on the projector. he was born and raised in china. she worked at a machine manufacturing after leaving her village at the age of 25. she was not educated in the school system but taught herself how to read chinese over the years. she became a citizen in 2004. she worked at various restaurants and family associations in chinatown prior to her retirement. she is the youngest in her

family and she has five older siblings and she is married -- was married in 1959. they have three sons and two grandsons and four daughters, most of whom have been raised here. her family have been living here since they emigrated to the u.s. and have the bonds with the chinatown community. she joined the largest member based organization in san francisco and took an after role -- active role. there also incredibly active in the south of market and in district 6. her leadership and grass-roots organizing skills got her elected to the vice-president of the pta and she has -- the cta as she has held the positions since.