you to show your support and remain hopeful for our students at city college. i invite you and this board to collaborate with our education leaders and me to unite behind the college and prioritize above all else our students. our students at city college are today concerned. they're anxious, and they're a bit confused. and we need to be responsible with the information we together provide. we have an opportunity to partner with the state chancellor and the special trustee to maintain accreditation for city college and keep this invaluable institution alive for the benefit of current and future students and i challenge you to join me in doing so. thank you. >> thank you, mr. mayor. that concludes our question time for today. we look forward to seeing you soon. all right, colleagues, can we get to our consent agenda? madam clerk. >> items 2 through 23, the consent calendar are considered routine. if a member objects, an item may be removed and considered

separately. >> colleagues, would anyone like to sever any item? supervisor wiener. >> item 9. >> item 9. can we take a roll call on the rest of the consent agenda? >> item number 22 as well actually. >> if we could exempt that, item 9 and 22. and, madam clerk, if you could please call the roll for the rest of the items. >> supervisor wiener? wiener aye. supervisor yee? yee aye. supervisor avalos? avalos aye. supervisor breed some breed aye. supervisor campos? campos aye. supervisor chiu? chiu aye. supervisor cohen? cohen aye. supervisor farrell? farrell aye. supervisor kim? kim aye. supervisor mar? mar aye. supervisor tang? tang aye. there are 11 ayes. >> these ordinances are finally passed. [gavel] >> colleagues, it is 2:30, and because we have seven commendations that are going to be offered by five colleagues, i would like to go straight to

commendations and they we will then consider the balance of our calendar. and i would like to be the first to present commendations today to someone who i think all our colleagues know and many members of the public know as a real hero, particularly today. we've just passed with items 10 through 20 the final approvals for the cpmc project. and i would like to invite up to the podium a man who was absolutely instrumental in getting this done, a real hero, lou girardo, where are you? come on up. (applause) >> for those of you who may not know who this individual is, you may have heard about him as the owner of budine bakery, the oldest operating business of its kind in san francisco and

symbol for our city. you may have also heard of him as an incredible civic leader who has served on city on many boards and commissions over the years. but for many of us, lou is really the reason why we were able to get the cpmc project done. about a year ago in july 2012, many will remember that project was at a significant impasse, and i think it's fair to say that parties were not happy with each other and we had really hit a bit of a dead end. and the only idea that we could agree on at that time between the mayor and the board of supervisors and cpmc was that we needed to find a third-party mediator to come in and figure out how to move things forward. and all the parties threw out a number of names and there was one name that bubbled up to the top of everyone's list as a man who was at the podium today. of course, we're here in part to thank lou for the countless, countless hours that you spent

over a six-month period. colleagues, as i think you know, several times a week, early morning for many hours, each of these mornings for many months, lou convened cpmc officials, ken rich represented the mayor, supervisors campos and farrell to conference >>xv in a number of locations around the city, and worked with all of us over what were incredibly complex and difficult negotiations. lou had tremendous business and other personal commitments during that time period and we were all amazed at how he truly went above and beyond what is required to serve our city. he was able over this time period to achieve a consensus that frankly i did not expect i think many of us were pessimistic it when we walked into this process on what we were able to do. and, so, because of that in addition to a resolution that we're going to pass to honor lou's work, we have a proclamation signed by all 11 of my colleagues.

i wish that this proclamation was in the form of a bat sign because what i would like to do if we have trouble in the future, lou, is put up the bat sign and call you back into service if you so choose. but in all seriousness, i cannot thank you enough. i know that we have our colleagues who also want to thank you, but you truly were a hero to me, to mayor lee, i know to all of us who worked on this project. i want to recognize the cpmc leadership officials who are here to thank them for their participation and for also frankly thanking them for agreeing to allow lou girardo to help mediate over this process. so, with that, lou, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. (applause) >> and i'd like to recognize the two colleagues of what with supervisor campos has referred to, the three amigos, starting first with supervisor farrell.

>> thanks, president chiu. it's going to be the new voting box here at the board of supervisors. lou, i can't thank you enough. david chiu talked about it. colleagues, i've gotten to know lou -- i've known lou's family for a long, long time dating back to high school. there are certain families you grow up in san francisco that are truly gems of the community. from your children and your grandchildren that i've gotten to know, my children and your grandchildren have been in preschool together a few years. just such an incredible family. we all know lou now because he has budine and been involved in this process. i want everyone to know what an incredible individual lou is and incredible family he has. i'll never forget the hours we spent together. ken and i were talking about sunday morning, over the holidays. i mean we spent obviously countless hours together. nights, weekends, long times. i think there's only one

slammed door that i recall hearing at one point in time during the process, but you -- you are simply the reason we're here today. without a doubt we wouldn't be here without you. you have the city of san francisco owes you so much, not only your decades being involved in city government, and this process. i want to say thank you so much. it's been great working with you. i want to say fun. it was a long process, but incredibly rewarding to get to know you better. i really want to thank you for all that you did. colleagues, we would not be here without lou girardo, so, thank you. >> thank you, supervisor farrell. (applause) >> and to round it out i'd like to acknowledge supervisor campos. >> thank you, mr. president. i'll try to keep it short. you know, when i first heard about lou girardo and i knew a little bit about him, the way that it was described to me by some of the members of the coalition was, you know, this is a person that we think might be a good fit to play this role

and i had the opportunity to talk to lou because i wanted to, you know, see what he was about. and i have to say that after speaking to him, it was clear to me that the coalition got it wrong. i don't think he was a good choice. i think he was the only choice that we really could have made in terms of making this deal happen. you have a very complicated project that has a lot of different players, including four elected officials, you know, the three supervisors that were in the room and the mayor's office as well as the rest of the board of supervisors. each of us, not that we're prima donnas, of course, with our own conflicting interests and concerns, and you had a very broad coalition that reflects the diversity of san francisco, and you have sutter and cpmc. and i don't know about anyone really but lou girardo would

have the talent, the ability and the integrity to really bring it all together. i do think that the idea of a bat sign is something that makes a lot of sense, but i do think that we have to be careful when we use that because i think that one of the things that is clear to me about lou is that you have someone who gives and i am very appreciative of that. in thinking about what i would say, i thought of something that margaret mead said in terms of how you measure the true success of an individual, and this is something that i would guide and how i measure my own level of success, which is i personally measure success in terms of the contributions that an individual and a human being makes to his or her fellow human beings. and by that measure, lou girardo, you're one of the most

successful people i know and it's been an honor to know you. thank you. (applause) >> [speaker not understood]. you always got the final word in mediation, we would like to give you that final word. >> thank you for this honor. thank you for allowing me the opportunity to learn what i learned about san francisco through the eyes of you 11 and the administrators of cpmc. but i would tell you that when i came into this, i had been away from the body politic in san francisco for sometime in terms of being very active aside from writing a check. and i came in with some preconceived notions about personalities and things that i had read in the newspaper. and i want you to know that today i am convinced as a

citizen of san francisco that san francisco is in very, very good hands with the 11 of you and the people across the hall. the sense of community, the sense of common good that came out from your representatives, and then when i had my speed date with each and every one of you to talk about the results, it was so clear to me that you do care about the people of san francisco and that you do care about the common good. it's not that you don't have personal or political ambition, but you were able to put political narcissism and politics aside to make this work. that's why i'm so delighted and happy to be here and it really is a matter of great pride to be honored by such wonderful people. so, i thank you, i thank the coalition, and i thank cpmc. and i thank the mayor's office for allowing me this great privilege. thank you very much. >> thank you. (applause)

>> thank you, lou girardo. i am honored to also present a

second proclamation to the rec and park department. this month it is rec and park department month around the country and i'd like to invite up phil ginsberg who i hope is here. and if he's not, then we may proceed -- oh, you're going to be representing rec and park today? >> yes. >> excellent. well, colleagues, have a proclamation to proclaim june of this year as rec and park month in san francisco. i think we all know how important and critical parks are to the heart of our city. i certainly know that within my district. i know every one of our colleagues recognizes the sen stratev to the vitality of our city rec and parks have. this month rec and park would like to honor an important set of partners with the activities that they do.

in particular, our youth stewardship program which is a program where we have dozens of teachers that work to schedule field trip dates to local parks and to help give back to our community with restorations and [speaker not understood] while taking lessons back into the classroom. and i know our representatives from rec and park also want to acknowledge that as well. so, with that i'd like to acknowledge rec and park. >> thank you, mr. president. my name is kimberly kiefer and i oversee the rec and park department. it is my great honor to celebrate today the 50 youth stewardship teachers who have come out over the years, countless years to give back to our students and to our parks for free. last year we were able to work with almost over 3,000 students that our san francisco unified students, we have teacher kay kerman here who is one of our oldest teachers. she's been involved in -- excuse me. [laughter] >> all the teachers of our program, excuse me. for the past 13 years she has

witnessed the power of experiential learning particularly science help close gap in achievement and getting out into important parks. it's been an honor to be involved in this program and i thank you so much for acknowledging us today. and kate is going to say a few words on behalf of the program. >> thank you. it's a real privilege to be here representing the many teachers and thousands of students who are being impacted by this program. we've all participated in the youth stewardship program and it teaches our kids that the green public spaces in san francisco belong to them and that's from the bayview to the ocean, and that with that gift comes certain responsibility. more over, the program gives them critical life lessons for our english language learners who may even just have arrived in the country without learning any english. for kids who struggle in the classroomses, think of the child who can't sit still, a

struggling reader, and children who hadn't previously felt safe outside in the open spaces. so, i've been a participant since 2001 and in 13 years more than 300 of my own students have learned about the history of san francisco's open spaces, to recognize and care for native plant species that inspired a garden at our own elementary school in an ongoing research project, the importance of biodiversity and what that big word means, the human impact on the environment, and our interdependence with it, and the fact that individuals even children can make a difference in their community. teachers at my school are fortunate. we can walk to mount davidson or glenn canyon to participate in yoc. i know teachers who are equally committed to the program and who must travel by bus or more likely muni for quite a distance to get to an open space. the next generation science standards which are likely to be adopted in california call for students to be critical thinkers as well as to recognize human impact on the environment. [speaker not understood] does

that for them and so much more. it teaches our children the joys of hands on science, the importance of working together, and doing community service and the magic of just being outdoors. so, on all our behalf thank you for honoring yofp and all the work that it does. (applause) >> thank you and congratulationses. and i just want to acknowledge one other person and invite up, of course, it's always tough after a teacher has spoken to invite someone who is late to the classroom, but phil ginsberg, the director of the rec and park department would like to ask if you have a few words you'd like to say. >> thank you, president chiu. i thought i could sneak in here, but apparently not. we just wanted to thank this board of supervisors ~ for recognizing this outstanding program. it's one of the things that we are most proud about in our department, and that is making sure that our children have a sense of appreciation of the true wonderment of our open spaces in san francisco, and that they begin to learn at a very young age the importance

of stewarding our parks and open spaces and taking care of our environment. and we're so grateful to our team and all of our schools that participate in this program, over 75 schools touching over 4,000 kids. and again, there's no better way to invest in our parks and open spaces than making sure that our young people have a true appreciation for what it all means. so, thank you very much for taking some time out of your busy calendar to recognize this outstanding program and i do want to give a special thanks to san francisco unified school district with whom we just have a really outstanding partnership in working with our kids. >> thank you, and congratulations. (applause)

>> for our next commendations, every day of the week i think those of us who are elected officials are very proud of the work that our men and women who are in blue perform every day. today we have two commendations to be provided by two different supervisors for distinguished courage within our police force. i'd like to first recognize our district 5 colleague, supervisor london breed. >> thank you, president chiu. today i have the pleasure to

honor officer milbray. would you please come up? this may or may not be a familiar one to us, but just recently on july 4th, he saved a senior from a burning building. he actually ran into the building after alerted of the incident by someone on the street. and although he's not a member of the fire department, he went into the building to make sure that he saved a woman's life. and that is really why i'm so incredibly honored to be the one to acknowledge you for this work because oftentimes every single day our public safety officials put their selves on the line, both the fire and the police department, and without even thinking about their own safety are always looking to make sure that they are protecting the public. and even in the recent issue we

had at the airport, and i know chief suhr and chief joanne hayes white are here today and they spent the entire weekend out at sfo dealing with that issue, but we saw there were officers on television going into this situation as well and risking their lives. so, here today we have a hero and i'm just so happy that you're a part of the organization. i know the captain is here and some of the other folks to acknowledge you. and he is one of the first responders to clearly respond on the scene and save someone. both the woman and officer la braae were taken to the hospital and i'm just so glad that you are okay and she is okay and everyone is living to tell the story. and, so, this is truly amazing. officer la braae has been with the department for 15 years. i know he looks a lot younger than that. [laughter] >> he's dedicated, and your actions and just basically putting your life on the line to save another person is truly

commendable. and i know you've done things like this in the past, but in this particular instance, i want to make sure that as the district 5 supervisor, that you are acknowledged for all that you do, but more importantly going above and beyond in this particular case to save a life. so, here today on behalf of all the members of the san francisco board of supervisors we commend you. (applause) >> thank you very much. again, i'm just grateful, just glad as i said before, to be at the right place at the right time and that it was a positive outcome. and, again, thank you very much. very grateful. >> and i forgot to mention that our public safety officials, both police and fire department, are also very humble individuals. so, again, thank you so much for your work. >> thank you. (applause)

>> thank you, supervisor breed. now we have one more presentation for our police commander. i think we're still waiting for one individual to come. in the meantime, i'd like to ask tower district 4 colleague, supervisor tang, with a couple of presentations that she has

for some of our amazing educators. >> all right. well, thank you very much, mr. president. i guess i'll continue honoring our very humble and modest individuals. this is both a happy and sad moment for me as i will be honoring not just one but two of our beloved district 4 school principals who are leaving their post. so, first i'd like to call up principal or former principal david wong from francis scott key. (applause) >> as many of you know, i think a common question that often comes up time and time again, how do we keep our families in san francisco? we often address this question by talking about things such as housing needs, jobs, transportation, and so forth. but i think one of the most important things that we can do to help us keep our families in san francisco is really education. our education system. and, so, with that, david wong, he has actually been the principal for about 13 years at

my former elementary school, francis scott key. it isal always nice to return to a school that i went to and to see it it in actually better condition than when i had been there. so, that's much credit to you. although i am sad to see mr. wong leave francis scott key, he won't be going far. he is actually going to be the new assistant superintendent for the san francisco unified school district. so, congratulations on that promotion. prior to arriving at francis scott key, mr. wong served as principal at daniel webster elementary school for about eight years and as a former school principal at the elementary middle and high school level since 1989. mr. wong's work shows his commitment to education. he has worked as a special education teacher in hong kong, chinese bilingual teacher at golden gate elementary school and sfusd [speaker not understood]. under his leadership at francis scott key it earned california

title 1 achievement eight times, 2001, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. [speaker not understood] he has increased student enrollment. mr. wong was also selected adds one of two principals by the assistant superintendent in 1998 to serve as a principal mentor and he has actually continued to provide that mentor ship to many other principals for the past 15 years. and in 2011 mr. wong received the mayor's principal of the year award. so, i could go on and on about all of mr. wong's accomplishments, but what i think is actually more fascinating is the level of respect, admiration, and appreciation that his colleagues and parents have of mr. wong. many who have worked with mr. wong have been impressed by guitar and tennis skills. they have noted that he is very hands on and has taught his own after school enrichment classes with guitar and kung fu many years. many consider him a mastermind of organization and budgets and he always made sure his teachers, students and community were well supplied

with whatever resource he were needed to effectively teach and enrich children's lives. in fact, every classroom in francis scott key will have a promethian board. for those who don't know what this is, i had to look it up, it's an interactive white board. mr. wong is described as a great visionary and who has brought many new programs to schools and has been leading everyone to excellence. it has been an incredible joy to work with mr. wong who is also a sunset district resident. he has always made me feel very welcome every time i've returned to francis scott key and i know that you will continue to be a great leader in this new role. so, with that i thank you for your service. and before i give you a moment to say a few remarks, i actually want to call up chris arm entrout from the school district. the school district would like to say a few words on your behalf. >> thank you, supervisor tang. i'm director of planning for sfusd. yes, it is a bitter sweet moment for us but it is also

one of gratitude for all that wong, now assistant superintendent wong has done for francis scott key. the thousands of families that he has served, raising api scores, expanding enrollment as supervisor tang had mentioned, keeping families in san francisco, that is one of our greatest roles and charges. and principal wong, assistant superintendent wong has done a fantastic job of serving that charge. so, on behalf of superintendent richard karanza, i want to thank you for staying on and taking a leadership role. i personally look forward to working with you, sir. >> thank you. (applause) >> i thank the superintendent for what he said because i haven't done my job yet. i still have to prove myself to the district. i just want to thank katy,

supervisor tang for, you know, the commendation. i think really flattered and honored to be standing here today. and obviously we all know that currently the [speaker not understood] school is not really the credit of the principal alone, you know. we could not have done our job without the support from all the constituents in the school communities and the teachers, i think parents, you know, that have always been very supportive in the last 14 years, i really wanted to thank you because without your standing behind me, i don't think i could have accomplished what i've accomplished. and as you all know, that a leader needs followers. we need teacher leaders, parent leaders. i'm very fortunate at francis scott key we have all staff. today i'm actually here to receive an honor on your behalf. i'm really humbled to have you