this city with this free thinking attitude is capable of providing leadership to the whole world, but there needs to be all sides involved and this city does that and i thank you supervisor olague for your leadership. >> thank you. next speaker please. >> i would like to thank supervisor olague for her leadership as well and call on the hearing on education and as well as housing. those are two issues that affect african-american community across the country as well as san francisco. i'm -- you know what i do for a living. i'm a homeless advocate. i advocate for homeless people and clifford hoosier has been coming to my center for two years now and a

immigrant from sierra leon. if he returns to his home he will be killed. he is requesting asylum here in san francisco. he hasn't gotten s he is not here illegal. he's a harvard graduate as well. next year january 31 and i just been coming to city hall to try to get support for him as well, and that's pretty much all i have to sai. i would like him to speak for himself. >> i want to thank the commission for its work. this is my second time appearing at city hall. the first time i had the opportunity again to witness a session like this, and i want to thank everybody. i want to thank supervisor olague. i

have read much about the commission work from the examiner, the san francisco examiner. like jamal and my case manager. i see supervisor mar and supervisor campos and i have been reading about san francisco and all about its developments on the san francisco examiner which as you know is a free newspaper, and i have been seeing all the work you are doing in my district where i live, bay district and bringing things there and cleaning up the navy yard and affordable housing and like jamal said i am trying to get asylum. i moved into this

country in 1996 at harvard university and he is my case manager and through his leadership and graciousous and kindness and getting me to places and where i can get some help and so i told jamal. i showed him all my papers and he knew i have a court date on january 31, and i have been living in this country for 16 years. i don't have any criminal record, and will be grateful for your support and i want to say thank you very much and look forward to your

support and anything, questions -- thank you very much. >> thank you very much. thank you very much. and i am sure that all of our offices will be happy to help in anyway we can. i appreciate it. any other member of the public wish to speak? seeing none public comment is closed. i guess madam clerk if we could call item 10. >> item 10 is adjournment. >> so this adjourns the meeting and i want to wish our staff and everyone here a safe and happy holiday season and i want to thank again the commission and our staff for what i think has been a really successful year for lafco, and happy holidays to everyone. enjoy the holiday. meeting

adjourned. >> 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! >> >> >> frantic shoppers around you

may be in need of a break from the festivities and have no fear i will count down the places that will add fun to the madness. if you're in good of a good laugh stop by for free comedy night and food and drink speciallies. come laugh the night away at 8:00 p.m. sharp. after that get your skate grove on in your finest black and white duds. join the godfather of skate and his party crew this thursday at the skate night. skate to the funk and rolear disco and say the words "i love skating" and get a discount at the door. maybe the star party is your cup of tea and socialize and get tips about the night sky and from san francisco's

picturesque land's end and the skies the limit. that's the weekly buzz. visit us >> 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 and they can't flip the switch unless there was a joke about the candle stick. they can only flip the switch from the north pole as we really, really hear them. so before i turn it over to mayor lee and mayor brown to do the count down, i need to hear as loud as you could possibly scream, are you ready to turn the lights on? they said that they heard a dull roar but they could not hear it up at the north pole.

one more time. are you ready to turn the lights on? [ cheers ] >> they heard that. all right, mr. mayors all you. >> okay. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [ cheers ] >> it worked.

>> it's just great to have each one of you here. all of the volunteers working so hard and all of our volunteers up here who will soon be working hard. and we just thank you for coming together to help the people who will receive these meals tomorrow morning. we're going to start with a word of prayer and then we're going to continue on. heavenly father, we just thank you for this time and thank you for all the people who have come together today. and as we think about thanksgiving, we think about all the blessings that you've given to us. and we praise your name, lord, and we thank you for the opportunity that we have to give to other people during this time of the year. so, we just pray that you would bless this time together and pray these things in jesus' name, amen. >> amen. >> and now, ladies and

gentlemen, i'd like to introduce to you our executive director [speaker not understood]. (applause) >> the salvation army san francisco center is a state licensed [speaker not understood] recovery program. at any given time upwards of 200 people are here on-site, go through the program and get their life back together. our residential capacity is 106 single adults with up to 30 families and up to 52 kids with those families. you're not likely to find many treatment programs with child care program and also a licensed detox facility, but we have them here. we are truly a place for new beginnings and we have been that place at this location for 40 years. all those years we've been celebrating thanksgiving with

our friends. as evidence of our thanksgiving history, i have these photos. some of you have already recognized dianne finestein before she was mayor. she was on the board of supervisors, i think. even before that, the gentleman in the middle uniform there is my grandfather who was the executive director here before i was born. so, we've been doing this at least 50 years, a long time. it's become a tradition for us. but we're here for more than because of a tradition. we're here to -- [inaudible]. because this gives us an opportunity to thank you for being here with us. gives us an opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with you and do good to serve those who are most in need. today we finish our preparation. tomorrow a fleet of volunteer drivers help us deliver these 5100 meals. so, thank you again for being

with us here today. thank you for your help throughout the year. thank you very much for your help throughout the 70 years. and now back to our mc. thank you very much. >> thank you very much. (applause) >> and we're going to whip right through this. so, it may look like a lot, but it's not. what we're doing mostly is introducing the people who are here today because without you we wouldn't be able to do any of this. we appreciate it so very much. so, first we're going to introduce some of our folks. the divisional officers and staff. we'll start with the divisional commander who you've met, lieutenant colonel steve smith. give me one clap. (applause) >> very good. divisional secretary for program and metro coordinator major jack bird. (applause) >> faster, got to be there. harbor light center staff turkey carving producers, we have the harbor light strategic project coordinator who you've seen running around this morning, john mcknight. (applause)

>> hey, that's better. from harbor light assistant youth director trey hillary. can't miss him. the tallest guy in the room. maybe second tallest. food service manager shawn bradley who is probably back in the kitchen. let's give it to shawn, right. assistant food manager, anna. all right. (applause) >> and our harbor light residents. [cheering and applauding] >> good, very good. the advisory board, advisory councilmembers who are with us today, harbor light advisory council chairman jim ayers. right over there. (applause) >> harbor light and chinatown core advisory council lilly chin. hey, lilly. chairman of the salvation army metro advisory board and harbor light center advisory councilmember, you all know him, pete ratto. (applause) >> hey, pete. and introduce our volunteers and vips, san francisco city ask county, the honorable mayor

ed lee. [cheering and applauding] * >> from the san francisco police department, the chief of course, greg. and the san francisco police department command staff. [cheering and applauding] >> the san francisco fire department. with chief joanne hayes white, san francisco fire department command staff. [cheering and applauding] >> we're not there yet. a little anxious. [laughter] >> where was i here? united states army, deputy commanding officers of the pacific division, colonel petty stratford, senior officer staff. [cheering and applauding] >> san francisco heights president hu man services commission, commissioner scott kahn. (applause) >> okay, here we come now. san francisco fire department

lieutenant bob arazave. (applause) >> san francisco fire department station 2 headed by lieutenant jay johnson. [cheering and applauding] >> and the firefighters from san francisco fire department station 2, let's hear it for them. (applause) >> now, did i miss anybody? college fire -- >> the city college fire captain. where is that person? fire academy. >> oh, the academy, we know about those guys. the fire academy, let's hear it guys and gals. (applause) >> very good. okay. one big applause for all of those folks, please. [cheering and applauding] >> and now i'd like to invite the mayor himself who promises me he has taken some turkey carving courses this last year, please welcome the mayor of the city and county of san francisco, the honorable ed m. lee. >> thank you, terry. (applause) >> thank you very much, terry for the introduction again. thank you to salvation army and

harbor light center. to know that over 5100 family will receive a great thanksgiving dinner because of your efforts here is remarkable. and i want to thank all the volunteers here from the chief of the fire and police departments to our men and women in the armed services, to our commissioners who are here today. all the volunteers from salvation army and their friends. it's a wonderful time of the year. it's one of my favorite times. as we kicked off the season of giving yesterday, as i call it the season of giving, of caring and of sharing, because people in many of their own personal ways will help somebody else. it doesn't have to be money. it doesn't have to be resources, but ultimately it has to be care that we all want to share with each other. and we have a lot of needy people in the city and we constantly talk about it. we have concerns of other social safety net as our congress is on the fiscal cliff

and we're all bracing for hopefully good things to happen, as they've been happening in our world class city. so, i want to again thank salvation army for helping us be the world class city that we are, giving ourselves the world class heart that we always have. so, happy thanksgiving, everybody, and let's get to these nude turkeys. [laughter] (applause) >> thank you very much, mr. mayor. and thank you so much for being here. you can carve while i do some more talking here. if you'll pay attention to the marvelous things they're doing with the turkey carving. we have 6,000 pounds of turkey here, believe it or not, 1400 pounds of green beans, 1600 pounds of yams. it's been cooking for 4-1/2 days around the clock back in that lovely little kitchen of ours. and all that work did not disrupt the usual activities,

360 meals, 400 sandwiches for homeless people. they're still baking the brownies cakes and cookies. 300 delivery routes, 500 volunteers, 6100 meals to seniors and shut-ins. the meal, roasted turkey with stuffing, gravy, yams, apple sauce, cookies and hot cocoa mix. we want to especially thank our many donors especially the aaa folks who donated 50 28-pound turkey plus aaa maps for our delivery volunteers. 15 pounds of coffee with cups. and our photographer donate his time and talent today. and it is due now. and then we're going to have some photo ops as you can see. it feels like hol