will say something as well and we want to congratulate you and all of our italian american community as we kickoff the year of italian culture in the united states and we look forward to joining hands with you to make it as successful as possible. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> all right. and please consider me one of "us". >> thank you very much. and bona tale. i asked senator leno how do you think they say happy chanukkah in italian? and he

said mozel tough and i am glad to be here and i am proud to be an italian american and it's been an important part of my identity. i believe i have the soul in my heart. [applause] . so there you are. and i remember my grandfather saying when he came over on the boat he was told the streets of america were paved with gold and found out there were no streets and he had to do the paving, and i think the strongest part of our culture is "the family". we may have our dysfunctions but our families never dessert us and my family didn't know much with the lgbt issue so when i came out of the closet i thought they would

be so upset i would lose them. wouldn't happen. once my son had a sign that said "i love my gay son that never calls" and that is it and i want to welcome the counsel general and his partner and actually we share a vice, and it's called napoli. i think i can say it right. (. [speaking foreign language] . we don't want you to do that but want to work out programs to share our fabulous culture and again thank you. [applause] >> hello. i am honored. i am david chiu president of the board of supervisors. i fall in a long line of succession of

italian presidents at the board of supervisors. i am here honored to be supporting our board and my colleague scott wiener and representing the oldest italian neighborhood here on the west coast and i know you have heard from leno and amaino i want you to know my italian friends introduce me as david chiu o. 20 years ago like every elected that didn't grow up in san francisco and i know we are all from different areas i came here 20 years ago from the east coast and in part i was fascinated by chinatown and it's next to the old italian neighborhood of north beach and in the great cities like boston et cetera and when i walked

around that neighborhood it was the neighborhood that drew me to the great city whether being reminded of great baseball players, the joe migage i don't play ground. >> >> or the fisherman or the piazza that i look forward to work with angela to lobby the mayor to adequately fund it. there are special quarters that come from the community that are represented tonight and i am happy to come and raise a glass to all of you and look forward to cel celebrating the italian. >> american history. thank you. >> good evening. i am verna patty. i am coming from congresswoman pelosi's office.

she is celebrating in washington dc the italian culture with the minister. "dr. friends greetings as you. >> >> gather in san francisco to celebrate italian culture in the united states. thank you for the opportunity to join so many friends, guests and dignitaries with fellow italian americans to bring the celebrations. the celebration is more of a celebration in art and music, fashion and design, literature and architecture. it is reaffirmation of the enduring bonds between the united states and italy and tribute to our history as partners and allies and marker of our shared value and heritage. our ties are embedded in the very root of the american story. america is discovered by the italians and

named by an italian and built by thousands of italians and our community representing literally millions of bridges between the countries. through research and innovation italy will remain a bafton of creativity and beautiful. may our common history and sustained by our common values and common faith in the future continue to grow and flourish. with warmest regards, nancy pelosi". thank you very much. [applause] >> so mayor lee, senator leno, state assembly member

and leaders and ladies and gentlemen. it's a real honor for me to celebrate with you today the start of the italian culture in the united states. nancy pelosi was with our foreign minister in washington dc, but san francisco is the first major city after washington dc that follows suit, that follows washington dc, so again a little like the giants that want to be number one. today is december, 12, 2012 which is 12-12-12. kind of scary. i would like to quote rem. "it's the end of the world as we know it but we're just fine". we are just fine because we're beginning really 12 months that will be exciting and fun for all of us. as you all have mentioned italians have made a lasting contributions in building this city, and in

making what it is, the city that is international, innovative and open. it's difficult to name names but let me mention angela rosy and judge misconnie and in city hall and in the hearts and minds of san franciscans. let me mention ap geny and found an important bank and the inventor what we call the micro credit and helped the city recover from the big earthquake of 1906. guy mo roller who was the founder, established the opera in san francisco, by the way there's an italian directing the opera and laurence fergetty and 93 and good friend of the community. he is the father of the b

generations and the guy that started the culture revolution of the 60's and 70's so in many ways italians have made lasting contribution to this city and the silicon valley. there is an important engineer that developed the first micro prosser for intel, so it's a tremendous foundation to celebrate italian culture 2013. also i was reminded by our pastors that san francisco gets its name from an italian man and holly man. it is noted. >> >> for kindness and compassion and generosity and i think these are traits that this city has adopted and made its own traits , so this is not to be under scored, not to be forgotten.

what are we going to do in the coming year? basically we have three principles, three guidelines. we want to show beauty and arts. i guess beauty and harmony everyone associates and italy. we want to bring a large paint to san francisco. we want san franciscans to enjoy great art. we would like the theater of naples play with san francisco. it will be200 year of his birth and we want it to be a special moment and the san francisco bay and the other guiding principle is sustainability and also of lifestyle. we are proud to say in a way italy has shaped

global life with our consumer goods, fashion, sports car, coffee, also our industrial design, so we will bring for example jewelry from a heritage collection to san francisco. we will have liz tailors jewels exhibited here in the city. we will have of course food -- especially we like the slow food philosophy. we will highlight the achievements in the education system and especiallied connected to the experience of a woman like maria montessori. the third principle is innovation and technology. when i say italy everybody will think of the arts and music. they don't think of technology yet we want to persuade you there are lots of things to be discovered. i was working in

the world of energy and there i think we have taken enormous steps in the direction of a modern sustainable green economy, what we call now distributed generations of people producing and consuming energy. this is happening at an incredible pace in california and i know california like this is and we want to connect with california. some of the events will require the supports of the leaders that are here present, the leaders of the italian american associations. i am very proud to say that all of the leaders of the italian american associations are gathered today, mr. mayor, and senator assembly man and board of supervisors is here to celebrate with us and ramona blackwell who with the committee of the italians abroad and elected body and we will need your support and it's not just

top down but bottom up. we're are open to your ideas and suggestions. we want it to a great celebration and people are in charge and in power and they will also run the show. that's our objective. by the way also have guests from outside california and salt lake city -- i don't know where he is because i can't see anything with the lights. there he is. thank you mike for being with us. we will celebrate also in other cities. definitely i know that with your passion, your pride, and the support of the city and county of san francisco, of the state of california, and hopefully of the house of representatives we will be able to create new opportunities to be together and above all to have fun in celebrating the greatness of italian culture in the united

states. thank you very much and enjoy with us. thank you. [applause] >> yeah. angela is asking me to mention that we're going to gather at 6:30 p.m. on montgomery street, 814 montgomery street. we will have jazz, opera, good slow food and opportunity for all of us to mingle and have a good time. i wonder if there is someone in the press that is following us if they want to ask questions?

please. >> [inaudible] you mentioned sustainability. do you define italy as a green country and what do those efforts mean for san francisco. >> yes, definitely. i see that. i am happy while being in san francisco there is such an amazing attention to the environment. people are very environment conscious and i see community aggregations also to have renewable energy. it makes me very happy because in italy we have been following this path for a very long time. for example in the first six months of this year we installed photovoltaic panels larger than the united states all put together. it shows you the extent of the revolution

happening. i am sure italian companies will be happy to work with the local institutions that have started to generate projects that will somehow go in that direction, and also we want to have parties and communication activities to show the people in the street that it is important to have sustainable behaviors and not to leave a carbon footprint behind us. >> [inaudible] >> yeah, if i understand correctly because -- you said about the innovation -- if we? >> [inaudible] >> yeah, okay. well, we're

going to have in the museum of computer science in mountain view an exhibition show casing what italians have done to create silicon valley. i mentioned one person but there are many other examples. along with that we will have a big conference with italian innovators and venture capitalists and along with large hi tech companies of silicon valley and come together and focus on specific projects how to work together for technological innovation. it will be focused on silicon valley but also the cultural institute in san francisco we have surprises for you that we're preparing. any other questions? >> [inaudible] >> yeah.

>> [inaudible] the problem of the public -- i would like for you to answer it -- [inaudible] >> i try not to be technical, but i hope i would be pervasive just telling you the debt crisis is basically a crisis connected to the governments of the euro system that has hit some countries for some reasons. somewhat we were hit because of the sins of our past. we have been having -- we have had a relatively a sizable but stable debt for a long time, but the point is it's very manageable. we are reducing it pretty fast, very fast indeed, and also to reassure the investors if you put together the net household

wealth of italians as compared to the debt of the government and the companies the ratio is three to one, so it's a matter of redistribution somehow. italians thanks to god are a wealtdy people and the matter is how we can put things into order in our household but definitely italy is a major stable solid economy, and once -- already there are signs of strong improvement. once this crisis is over we will definitely flex the muscles. please. >> [inaudible] are you planning show case any important architects and designers in this year of italian culture?

>> definitely. i mean in san francisco there's a wonderful san francisco design week, so we will have an italian design week too. we are planning on an exhibition of cultural institute with major brands of interior design. there's also very nice thing that we're working on. a famous architect has designed the california academy of sciences, the wonderful building in golden gate park. he has also designed similar museum in italy in my city and the museum is almost finished there, and our ambition is to have him come over and celebrate at the academy, and also talk to young architects about the most

sustainable ways to build this century. other questions? if there is no other question i thank you so much. thank our distinguished guest for being here with us and i hope to have a good time with you guys at the italian cultural institute. thank you. [applause] >> 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