>> good morning, everybody. welcome to city hall. this is one of those special days that i gets a chance to not only swear in the people, but to also think so many members of our community throughout this wonderful city of barours to hep with how we run the city and what policies and values we set forward. and how all these individuals are going to help all of us make sure that we are connected to all of our constituents. a big thank you to everybody here today. thank you very much.

[applause] i want to welcome supervisor wiener, the chief of police, thank you for being here. i will miss other officials, i am sure, because my age and height are always working against me. [laughter] our district attorney, george? you are right behind the bright lights. [applause] we have members of our community -- john burton is here. i have a lot of people giving me some great advice of how the city can be run better. it can always be run better. no matter what i am doing, how

hard i am working, there are always people who can help us. whether it is on a police commission, a veteran affairs, all the numerous departments, we can always do better. that is what i will be asking you to help us do. we have 24 appointment today. they span 16 appointed bodies. 12 of them are reappointment, and 12 of them are new appointments. i want to mention a few because they are exciting. they will end up with a lot of hours of your time. it is not to say that every commission here today is as important as the other. they are extremely important to the citizenry of our city. allen, you will help us.

a lot of hours doing that. there are a lot of people looking forward to open space and improvements in their communities. he will be spending a lot of hours doing that. suzy and thomas, a police commission. public safety, it is selling pour into our city. it is -- it is so important to our city. we want a safe city. thank you for stepping up. malcolm, taxis. when is my taxi going to be here? you have already spent hours and dino you will contribute quality hours -- and i know he will contribute quality hours to our transit system. as we approach memorial day, i

want to signal our contribution to the veterans affairs. you were going to use all of your expertise, not only in the employment development area and the work force area, but your presence, your commitment to our country and for veterans, he will signal to them that we care about are returning veterans. we want them to look -- we want them to succeed. to each and every one of you, all the commissions are important to me. you are my a conduit to my constituents. everyone of you are heeding the call to be an additional voice for our citizenry. i want to thank all of you for your contributions that you are about to undertake. to just representing the diverse

fabric of our city. you come from all walks of life and some of you -- come out of safety havens and coming to a public dialogue about what is important. how do we think and act and feel about the city? you'll hear it raw and in a very nice way, e-mails, texts. can i have a word with you? this is our great city, this is why we have so many commissions. i celebrate all of that with you. if you are ready, please stand up and raise your right hand. and repeat your name in unison

after the word "i." repeat in unison at the commission's you are about to join. i do solemnly of firma but 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 will bear -- to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california. that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of

evasion. i will faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter during such time as i hold the office of -- for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations and thank you. [applause]

>> good morning and welcome to the first annuallove your parks day in san francisco. welcome. my name is matt o'brady, the newest kid on the block looking to improve our parks city-wide. we have a new display area. we will get the dignitary speaking over quickly. without further reduced -- without further ado, i will hand this over to the director of the recreation and parks department. phil? >> thank you. good morning. pick it up. is beautiful out.

it is great to be here. is a gorgeous day. -- it is a gorgeous day. this is the most perfect functioning model park. those of you who have guaranteed -- to a volunteered, give yourself a hand. we are here to cut a ribbon on the newest element, this incredible playground. one of of every three children in southern california suffers from a be city. our children spend nearly every hour a day behind a screen. we are giving some of our older kids a better chance to get outside, make healthier choice

is to play. -- choices to play. [applause] today, we celebrate more than our older kids. we also celebrate the park alliance. the parks department cannot do it alone anymore. we need friends and partners. the president of its board is here someplace -- [applause] meredith thomas. thank you for all that you do and for your support. [applause] and today, we are also celebrating community. folks like peter cohen, doug wu -- you guys are -- where are

you, peter? you guys are tenacious. we could not do it without partners. thank you so much. [applause] lastly, and i know the guy i am going to introduce is going to talk a little as well, this is for the benefit of san franciscans' love for parts. this is a partnership, what you see today. it also has your support. this beautiful playground was funded with $160,000, and if you have not noticed, we have a new boss some facility -- awesome facility because of you.

thank you. and next we have our 43rd mayor. he is about jobs, but he is also our biggest parks champion, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> very quickly, because i see young citizens here who are thinking in there minds "ok, when are we opening?" i am glad to join supervisor olague and supervisor weiner and matt and phil and others. we were walking up here, and scott and i were thinking, this used to be an edgy place. i was in a comfortable position myself as a city administrator.

phil and others were saying some of the elements were starting to creep in and there was a lot of negativity and some activity at night -- maybe you remember that. so you got together. there is love it for our children. there is love for our families. we have gone to work. we have done that. we have done that with you. we have people waiting to get into this park. and i'm not just seeing today is a celebration of this. phil said there are literally 12 other love your park activities going on in the city. but what i want to say to you -- with the help of phil and mer

edith and everybody else in the supervisors -- we are going to enjoy this all over our city, so neighbors here in bayview and the our mission -- outer mission, and all these areas where the city is still saying it is still a little bit edgy. guess what? the 2008 parks budget, where the money was derived from this, along with landscaping -- thank you verythank you very much fore donation. [applause] the public-private partnership is still working for our neighborhoods. we really have used our parks bond responsive flee. -- orszag -- responsibly. we have listened to the parks

alliance. the old and new merchants. we have to, because they are the voices. they are the affect of voices you created for city hall to make sure we listen and respond. we are ahead of the game now. we're going into a major effort here. 100 and -- $195 million, but the promise is still there. we will keep it below your property taxes in 1996. how about that? retire the old debt. do not create new ones like others in the state keep doing. we're going to insulate ourselves with good financial decisions for the city. i also want to say that we're going to have a lan awful lot of other things on the ballot. but please do not let someone walked up to you and say we can drain our hetch hetchy and find some other water solution for our great water system. they will say that to you. it is little trojan horse that

will give to this month -- november ballot. advocates for san francisco, do not allow people to be full that we can drain hetch hetchy on some environmental goal that is untrue. we can still enjoy the balance, that we had the greatest water system ever engineered. that is going to come your way. i hope you pay attention to this. while we do our parks are, hopefully we change our payroll tax, and there will also build more housing with the affordable housing trust fund we are creating. thank you to the neighbors. thank you to all of you who reminded us that we have to get in a hurry with these parks because we have a story to tell. weekend build the foundation for more confidence that we do more of these things for our neighborhoods. thank you very much for being here. let's congratulate ourselves. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor. before i introduce our next speakers, these facilities in

these parts do not run and maintain themselves did not want to introduce and recognize a few folks from the san francisco recreation and parks department. our commander-in-chief, president of the commission, mark b. will -- buell. [applause] our service area manager, eric anderson. something like 35 parks under your jurisdiction. 30. [applause] i think the biggest step foot into the harvey milk rec center and participated in our incredible arts and culture programs knows jenny rogers. [applause] all right, this park is special. it has so much community support. one of them is because it is the confluence of two incredibly a vibrant, committed cibber of israel districts, led by two

incredible park champions, and there will both get a chance to say a few words -- supervisory aldistricts to let me start by introducing the tallest man behind the ribbon. he hears that every place he goes. >> sorry, mr. mayor, you had your shot. >> but he is someone who really gets it and is working hard for this quality of life issues to help families thrive in san francisco. scott wiener. [applause] >> thank you. and the mayor takes it in stride. my constituents on the other end of the district. i am just beyond excited to be here today. i have watched this project over the years, and it has had its ups and downs, but at the we all knew all along that we would get it done. i want to step back and dig about this park. the mere mention did. it was not that long ago in this park had a lot of challenges.

if you look at what has happened in duboce the park, look at the battle for renovation of the rec center. you look at the playground, the fields, and what has happened with having dogs and people without dogs coexist peacefully in this park, i wanted to acknowledgement predecessor over there, who played a big role in that. [applause] sydney, too. this is really just a model park for the city. another point want to make is that this is a great example of how things actually get done in the city. i cannot tell you how many times, and i am sure supervisor olague experiences the same thing, you get an e-mail saying we have a problem. this park needs to be improved or this street needs to be improved or something needs to happen. supervisor, make it happen. my response is always the same. i am had a partner with you and

do that, but the way things actually improve and change in this city is win the neighbors get together and make this happen. and i am the wittmann. i am helping and supporting every step of the way. but this is not about city hall coming around and doing everything. it is about partnering with the neighborhood. this project has been such a tremendous example of a partnership between the city and the neighborhood, and i really does want to acknowledge. : and mark and susan and duck and others who made this happen by sheer force. you guys are amazing. yeah. [applause] i was honored a couple weeks ago to a point mark to the park in rec open space advisory committee, because i know he is going to do great work there as well. thrilled to be here. congratulations, everyone, and let's enjoy the day.

[applause] >> from our tallest supervisor to our newest supervisor -- [laughter] you know, my very, very first introduction with supervisor olague, she said there's nothing more important in this city than parks. she has been a parkside champion from her first minute on the job. supervisor olague -- >> i am really have to be here. they think this is a testament to the city's commitment to keeping families in san francisco. if we're really serious but keeping families in san francisco, then this is how we achieve that goal. by creating beautiful spaces like this. i mean, look around you. it is a beautiful park. everyone here participated in creating this, and they should be very proud. as supervisor wiener and everyone here has mentioned, the mayor, everyone, we cannot be

here if it were not for the input of the community. community engagement is critical. i want to thank all of you for scrap -- for sacrificing your time and efforts in creating such a beautiful vision. also to the landscape architects who donated his time, i just wonder if this is all pro bono. [applause] that shows that at the end of the day, it is not always about profits. it is about creating community in creating it together. then we end up here. so i think the children are ready to go and enjoy all of the swing sets and all of it. then, i just learned that it was the vision to have older children and adults have a place to also come and enjoy the space, so the basketball court was created. this area here so that some of this big kids can also come out and enjoy some physical

activities. again, this is something that the city really should be proud of. it is a beautiful space. >> thank you, supervisor. [applause] the theme is community partnerships. now it is perhaps time to introduce the community. representing the community, . -- peter cohen. most of you know him. but for those who do not, honestly his vision, determination, and tenacity has a very, very much to do with why we're standing here. peter, congratulations. [applause] >> thank you. i am just going to be one voice from the community, and you're going to meet a lot of folks. but i want to have everybody take a quick look up on the side of the building, because what it says that there for me has been a theme of the work that i have tried to do for the neighborhood activists since i have lived here. it says the american dream starts with the neighborhoods.

this is harvey milk in 1977. this was from him saying get out of the living room, turn off the tv, and do some work to change the city from the neighborhood scale. i think the neighborhood scale is or can of plug in. the best place to create chains. mayor lee, supervisor wiener, supervisor olague, yesterday i saw you in a meeting talking about a housing trust fund. i mean, this is my day job. and it was intense. this is intense, too. both of them are about getting things done the ground level. the housing we need, the parks we need, and all of that is about people being active and shaping change. that is what has driven me to be tenacious. i also want to put this in context. this has been going on now frankly for seven or eight years. there has been a whole park plan that was put together, and i want to ask the supervisor to

come up here with me while i am talking. the community came together, a bunch of us, and it was not very pretty. please, supervisor, would you make your way through the crowd. and it was precipitated by some rather unpleasant complications are around dogs, around kids, i run the changing demographics of the community, and this is not unique to duboce triangle. this is happening citywide. i do not know how we did it, but we figured out how to solve it. i made a lot of friends through that process, folks i was not particularly friendly with to begin. i want to thank the supervisor at the time for creating the table that allow the resolution process to happen. really, i mean, can we give him an applause. [applause] and we came up with essentially a conference of plan for the

park, from top to bottom or bottom to top. and for seven years, we have been figuring out how to implement that plan. fundraising effort-by-a fund- raising effort. we have gone through two supervisors now. this is the crowning piece in my mind. this is the last of a series of improvements, as well as the rec center, that makes this park a complete success from a community-driven process. as they say, it takes many hands to get things done. i want to call out some people to come up here in quickly join me. it is important to put a name with the face. when you see these people walking to the neighborhood or at the coffee shop or the park, you know they put in a sweat equity with me and others to get these seven years of things done. first of all, i want my daughter jessica -- come on up here. i had one child when this started, and it was not this one. and now have two, and she is a kitty kat today. i have actually measured this progress by having kids, and

they have used the park and enjoyed it. supervisor, i want to ask mark shoyer to come up here, a longtime advocate, a true champion did not want to ask david troup to come up here. he really pull together a lot of the dog community in duboce to work together with us. i think the piece that was referenced was in great measure the work of david being the rational voice all the way through. libby albert then on they get here today, but i want to recognize her. she has been in the neighborhood, raised two kids, and she was a great fervor on this process. also cannot make it today, sally large, runs the friends of st. frances sudeikis and abbottabad have been a longtime user of this park. she'd tell me we cannot bring our kids to duboce park because it is too dangerous. now they bring their kids to

duboce park. i want to acknowledge ekkatie wilcox, my partner, too. she has been involved in this from the very beginning, whether she likes it or not. she put in a lot of time. doug, come on up. with friends of duboce park, i got to know doug through this process as it came together. they run a monthly clean up park work day. this is the stuff that happens all the way through. this park is beautiful because of the work that people like doug do, and they continue to organize the community year after year after year. sia, come up here. she was very helpful on the youth play area. we wanted to make sure that duboce park, particularly the youth play area, a link to the

lower haiti neighborhood in the triangle and other neighborhoods. this is about youth in our facilities to the we did not have this for awhile. we wanted north and south, and she helped to bring that different perspective. gordon, are you here? he is off at his son's track meet. come on up here. yes, here is relatively new to the neighborhood. he is the pastor of the church on the corner. we never knew what went on inside. now we know. the first thing gordon did what he showed up as he started making friends . in organizing, the first thing you do is make friends. he has made a lot of friends. he has been a great asset to the committee. susan, please come on up. not only has suisun been around here about as long as anybody, living in this community, saying its change, she is an a