thank you. >> president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> good evening, board of supervisors. let me start off by saying that was not a disrespect to you all, in terms of making a comment on the last session. as i read it within the agenda -- >> president chiu: excuse me, you've already spoken in public comment. we started general public comment before this session. you did speak in that session. >> no i haven't. >> president chiu: my apologies. >> anyway, i apologize for stepping into a comment in which i thought it was okay per the agenda, okay, so i can comment on any which thing that's brought up before the board. but we're just here to speak on the issue of the sf mta. and the issues surrounding the sf mta, the budget, how everything's going over there. now, one can say that prop g

changed muni, depending on whose glasses you're using. proposition a, you know, we just want to make sure that you, the board members, particularly the new board members when they do come in, really step up to the plate, and have the agency conduct business for the residents of this city like they're supposed to be. no one's paying attention to prop a, transit first. no one. so when we take that into context, this system should be really -- yeah. mr. elsbernd brung up prop g but did it affect anything? i don't know. we have to look at those numbers today because in two weeks they're talking about cutting service to your constituents in the outer neighborhoods. yet take care of the visitors that's coming to shop in union square but what about the individuals in the outer neighborhoods. service is going to be affected deeply with these cuts. so we just ask for you and we are trying to work with the

agency as a partnership, what we're asking for the support of the board as well. let's really identify the serious problems of the agency, and the bureaucratic -- the misspending of all the funds that they have. can we do that. and we're willing to work with each and every one of you as -- >> president chiu: thank you. next speaker. >> like alfred hitchcock said, good evening. first i would like to thank supervisor olague, in my opinion her crowning achievement is that she set an example for all the school kids in san francisco. don't tolerate bullying, even in the city and county of san francisco, ie the mayor's office doing all the bullying. the kids will remember her, that's how she will go down in her crowning achievement in my humble opinion. ide like to make it a matter of

record in my opinion this board of supervisors has neglected three obvious items i've mentioned in the past. we'll see what happens next year. number one, child pornography. number two, the sex slave trade passing through san francisco. and obviously, number three, my number one project, the controversial death of a dead gay man who used to work at san francisco general in 1999, and so far nobody, and i mean nobody, is willing to even discuss his death. i guess when you're gay and you have no voice, then you're expendable. it's kind of interesting that the city of san francisco has been bypassed by the state of washington in regards to gay and related activities. so maybe that's a sign to san francisco that maybe the curse of joe -- is beginning to take its toll.

the last thing i would like to say is that there was an article in the west portal monthly in the front page and there were two things that weren't mentioned. the first one was that room 200 was very well represented. that wasn't mentioned. and in my opinion, the other thing that wasn't mentioned was laguna honda hospital. thank you. >> mr. president, supervisors, my name's otto duffy, north of market activist. i just saw the film lincoln and i'm just struck by a number of parallels with this body. but it occurred to me that you folks are probably pretty busy people appear you might not have had a chance to see it so i don't want as to destroy the ending. i also want to thank our outgoing members here very much.

i would just say that, in one case, there's a person who has very much on the other side of the political spectrum, and i think in all of eight years there was maybe one time we were on the same side but i really appreciated that time. so thank you. >> president chiu: thank you. and i want to welcome back former supervisor willie kenne kennedy. >> good evening. members of the board of supervisors, it's a pleasure to visit you today. but i came actually to hear, on behalf of the successor agency commission that was before you today. i didn't realize it had already been done. but nevertheless i enjoyed sitting through it and listening to it once again. it brought back old memories of things that occurred whoo whens here, although it may have gotten a little better, but i doubt it very much. sounds like the same old same

old, that i was listening to today. but nevertheless, i know you have taken care of it very well. and i know it's always a sad moment when we must go. but the voters chose that and said that you could no longer serve but a certain period of time. but i know how you feel, to have to leave a body like this, one that you have been around for a long, long time. and i wish all of you, who have to leave, vacate your seat, success in whatever you choose to do, and of course i admired her very much, and i thought you did an excellent job. and i hope i was not one of the ones that caused you to make that decision, after our conversation that day. but nevertheless, we both felt the same way and may god continue to bless all of you as you move about doing your duties in this community. it's not an easy job, and you're

never loved at all. you may love today. tomorrow, you're hated. so whatever it may be, god bless you and merry christmas and a very happy new year. >> president chiu: thank you very much. next speaker. >> can i put this up? >> president chiu: sfgov-tv. >> i would like everyone to google mta michael akino, if you would. you know, if he dies in about five hours and -- midnight, michael akino, and i stuck a cheeseburger in her face and said michael eat it, he wouldn't want to eat it because he's dead. in efissions chapter 2 we read

before one becomes a christian they're dead in tress passing in sin. there's no way that anybody can save themselves. my text for today comes from eye say yay. this is 700 years before jesus died on the cross in order to save sinners that cannot save themselves. i gave my back to the sniders and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. i hid not my face in shame from spitting for the lord god will help me therefore have i set my face like a flint and i know i shall not be ashamed. let us stand together. who is my adversary. let him come near unto me. fear of the lord god will -- who will condemn me. lo, they all shall wax old as a garment, isaiah chapter 50. there's a lot in that but jesus

christ is actually speaking through the prophet. seven centuries before it happened, in luc, jesus said these are the words which i spoke to you while i was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of moses, and in the prophets, that would be isaiah and in psalms concerning me. >> president chiu: thank you. are there any other members of the public that wish to speak in general public comment? please step up. next speaker. >> it's great to see you guys honoring a local business today. that made me feel good. i love this city. i became inspired to eat healthier and started my first business here. i started a dream and a vision to provide healthy food options, working endlessly to build my location. now a great deal has changed with the mobile food trucks. most existing businesses were grandfathered in.

this didn't happen to me. i was sent to a nursing home put on my death bed and required to pay my funeral costs up front after two years of paying my permit and paying in excess of 2,000, dpw informed me the police department committed an error. it was in violation of the municipal police code. dpw senior managers waived the nee on a new location but couldn't approve a refund. the claim was dean nied. michelle wu, the hearing officer, dpw, gave me the option to finish out the year at dolores park or choose a new location. many of the prime locations have been occupied over the years, and the new regulation doesn't require you to pay a $10,000 fee. do you think the city has given me back the money? and to this day, i still don't have a comparable location. mistakes happen and that's why i wasn't seeking additional

damages. i just wanted the money back that i paid. i realize each of you are extremely busy. i know you have to choose which issues to get involved in. remember which issues you also ignore speak volumes of your character. i can only hope these things from a leader that you feel this is important in maintaining high ethics, that you see the importance of taking action for small businesses and that the city government wouldn't defraud me either by accident or on purpose. i believe in our leadership and morals, i know most of the time it's a matter of speaking with the right peek. i hope you -- people. i hope you put me in the right direction. >> president chiu: thank you very much. are there other members of the public who wish to speak in general public comment? seeing none general public comment is closed. >> clerk calvillo: items 52 for adoption. if a member request --

>> president chiu: would anyone like to sever these items? seeing none, the the final vote of 2012, mr. clerk, could you please call the roll. >> supervisor farrell, aye. supervisor kim, aye. supervisor mar, absent. supervisor olague, aye. supervisor wiener, aye. supervisor avalos, aye. supervisor campos, aye. president chiu, aye. supervisor chu, aye. supervisor cohen, aye. supervisor, aye. there are 10 ayes. >> president chiu: those resolutions are adopted and motions approved. could you read the in memoriams. >> on behalf of supervisor elsbernd for sullivan, on behalf of supervisor campos for rodriguez and on behalf of supervisor cohen for russell bradford, supervisor kim for the late thomas west brooke. >> president chiu: anymore business in front of this body? >> that concludes our business.

>> president chiu: to everyone a happy holiday, happy new year. we'll see everyone back here on january 8, 2013. we are adjourned.

>> welcome to the beautiful historic tea gardens, the oldest in the united states. this provides visitors from around the world to enjoy the natural beauty, harmony and tranquility of the park in the heart of golden gate park. >> as you can see the garden has a wide variety of plants here, almost a hundred species from

japan and china and bamboo and native plants. >> they're trimmed to a human scale so you relate to them on a human level. >> this is one of my favorite sections and you can see the goarnlrous maples by the bamboo back drop and especially beautiful in the fall when the leaves start changing colors. just around the corner from maple lane this little garden is called a zen garden, a dry landscape garden and constructed here in 1953. this was originally designed by zen monks for the ground. their main purpose was to create a trairchg tranquil setting for the monks. this is

no ordinary bridge. it's made of redwood, oak and cedar. the high arch style makes it easy to pass under. the newly refurbished tea house is in the center of the gard scpen a great place to eat and chill as you take in the view of the garden. if you wish you can experience the rich cultural tradition that celebrates the preparation of green tea or matcha and your host dressed in the ceremony will demonstrate how to clean the utensils and receive and drink tea with ancient japanese customs. the art of the tea ceremony once available only to priests and nobility is completely accessible to you here in the house at the

japanese tea garden. located just across from the tea garden is the awesome segue tours there are two ways to use a scooter to venture through golden gate park. tour or a rental in the company of a guard that can whiz you through the park tour and see the conservatory of flowers. >> so much fun. woo. >> segways on a echo way to see gold park. check it out and stop by after your tour of the tea garden. it's a great way to play in the park. this way you can chill in

the japanese garden go to the tea house and then segway here at golden gate park. >> my name is phil ginsburg and the general manager of the san francisco parks and rec department and i want to welcome everybody to the 83rd annual holiday tree lighting. happy holidays to you all.

this is san francisco's official holiday tree right behind us, uncle john's tree and over 100 years old, and tonight it sports over 550 christmas holiday lights. >> five, four, three, two, one! >> yay!

>> all right, good evening, everybody, who wants to see a tree lit? >> happy holidays, welcome to fabulous mcclarin lodge here in golden gate park. my name is phil ginsberg and i am the general manager of your san francisco recreation and park department and i want to welcome you all to the 83rd annual tree lighting. happy holidays for you all. the trust for public land as mr. mayor knows recently named your park the number one park system in the entire united states of america. [ applause ] >> we were also just named as a finalist to host this cool international parks conference in 2015 in which we are going to be welcoming cities from all over the country to learn how we do it here in san francisco.

and then, just last month, and a big thank you to all of you, san francisco voters approved proposition b. the cleanest safe neighborhood parks fund which allows us to renovate and juvinate your parks. 83 years ago, uncle john mcclarin and if you go in the gm office you can see a picture of him. started the tradition of lighting this mile-long stretch of trees started and ending here in front of the lodge where he lived for a number of years. so this, this is san francisco official holiday tree right behind us, uncle john's tree. it is a cyrus that is more than 100 years old closer to 130

years old and tonight it sports over 550 christmas holiday lights. >> so i really want to give a big shout out to the rec and parks staff that has continued the tradition and i want to thank all of them and single out a few, bob pelosio who organized tonight's event. and i also want to single out loranie bamford whose team put this on and our entire recreation staff. and i want to thank our tree topers who get all the way to the top of this big tree to hang all of its lights. i want to thank our electricians who make sure that the lights go on and i want to thank all of the crews and there are so many people that

have a hand in planning the for tonight and give a big shout out for the hardest working team your rec and parks department staff. [ applause ] >> so we got a lot of special people here tonight, and i really want to single out a few who may or may not be here, i want to thank the rec and park commission, commission vice president tom harrison is here. [ applause ] commissioner page erata is here, glora buna is here and commissioner levatin is here and commissioner allan lowe is here and martin is here and give a shout out to mark who could not be here. and i saw supervisor mark ferrell and his entire family in the house and give him a shout out for him. i want to give... let's give a big special thanks to scott

weiner for all. he was out campaigning for the bond every night. thank you scott. [ applause ] >> i saw tom ewy the director of the department of building inspection who is here and i want to thank him and i want to thank the san francisco parks alliance who is here and the trust for public lands and most of all, i want to thank all of you, all of you for helping make this happen. [ applause ] >> oh, yeah. it is his last official tree lighting as a supervisor. where is he? come on up. yeah, we have already forgotten up here, you have got to come up. a big... our loudest, loudest round of applause for supervisor sean elsbern and his son michael who is here. look at this guy who just showed up in the left-hand part

of the stage, our former mayor willie brown who is here. [ applause ] all right. now, would you... thank you. so now, i want to introduce the city's park champion and chief and of course he shares our vision for making our parks, better cleaner, safer and more fun. he also loves to be in our parks and loves sports and he loves to play and pretty darn good at a game of ping-pong among other activities let's give a big san francisco welcome to our mayor, mayor ed lee. >> thank you, phil. how about another round of applause for phil. >> i am so happy to join you

with the supervisors and sean thank you again for all of those wonderful years that you have served the city thank you very much for being here. to all of the other supervisors, scott weiner and mark ferrel, thank you for your leadership on infrastructure and open space and parks and on supporting families in this city and to the hardest, most effective commission rec and park commission, thank you very much. all of your leadership there. but there is many other people to thank, we have got a lot of things to be thankful for this year. i mean it is not just prop b, we have so many other things that compliment proposition b and our open space, we have a renewed commitment to build infrastructure and see that supports a lot more things because the most thankful things that we have, i think, are the very people that are standing to my sides and in front of me. these are the folks that we are most thankful for because they

give us purpose, and focus for this city and where we need to take it. that is why we build more parks and we invest in our open space. it is for all of these children and the families. i also want to thank all of the sponsors i know three of them are big sports sponsors in the city. and the reflected by the toy train that you see on the side. you will see the caboose, led by golden state warriors. followed by the 49ers. [ applause ] and then two-time world series champions, san francisco giants. [ applause ] >> they give us all of this inspiration and i know that we are looking at some of future players on these teams right here in front of us. so thank you everybody. if i may, during these happy times, when we are thankful for

the things that we have and giving thanks for it, please remember the victims that continue to suffer on the east coast. and they are having a hard time it is very cold over there do anything that you can to help them. there are fellow citizens, they all wish that they could be here tonight. i am absolutely sure of that because everything is working pretty well in san francisco thanks to people like phil and all of the people that work hard especially the parents and the parks alliance and all of you neighbors out here, you help us make the city run really well. so i am thankful for all of you and all of the people that think together for the benefit of the city, so congratulations and have a wonderful holiday. and thank you mayor brown for being here tonight and to join all of us. kids, happy holidays. all right. >> thank you, mr. mayor. so, a couple of other shout outs, our music concourse

commissioner is here. [ applause ] and katie from the arts commission here and supervisor cohen just showed up in santa's sleigh and so speaking of there is a read jeep cherokee on conservatory drive, so if you have a red jeep cherokee you want to move your car. >> also want to thank whole foods for sponsoring tonight's event and so now mr. mayor and i am going to welcome you your predecessor mayor brown and i would like you both to lead us in the count down, are are we ready to turn the lights on? >> the lights only are electricians are literally at the north pole