online. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i'd like to give a special thanks to jill with us behind the scenes really appreciate the person to connect to make it dream come true and also the rec and park depth for stepping up we're thankful everything came together and hopefully coming brown back into the future. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> thank you>> (speaking foreign language.) (clapping) yes. i want to point out mr. march chandler the relations in san francisco what it didn't know about international affairs is not worthy knowing.

>> (speaking foreign language.) >> and it was mark yesterday informed me that swinging skirts is not about women gofrldz but men gofrldz wearing skirts. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> we just have a couple of for speakers try to make them brief we want the artists to speak and then a picture with mayor ed lee. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> please welcome to the stage the professor of the taiwan national university of the arts.

>> (speaking foreign language.) >> the honorable mayor ed lee and the government officials of san francisco the onsite resident of san francisco and isle the honorable guests coming today. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> the united states is a grow country a small stab of the

united states is a big stab of humankind the united states is a desirable place for artists the city government is generals for the space and this is a small step of the united states u you guess but a big step for taiwan's history we're grateful and appreciate the opportunity >> (speaking foreign language.) >> as a proof of art history

i'm confident to say you wouldn't be disappointed because first of all he is an excellent artist with a unique asian cultural and we're a professional team with international experience and third the button and expressive shape of skurmz will brings happiness to the people of san francisco. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> god bless america thank you very much. >> yeah, the good citizens of

san francisco they're sharing the glory of the u.s. to every corner of the world thanks to the u.s. thanks to mayor ed lee and god bless america. >> there's a saying in taiwan first, you become friends then you get to work. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> so, now i'd like to welcome to the stage my friend and someone we've been proud to work with mr. on the other hand, of '81 pays gallery. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> (clapping) >> (speaking foreign language.) >> this is the beginning of a

very beautiful exhibition. >> >> (speaking foreign language.) >> the historical mayor ed lee and the honorable guests my friends from taiwan and the media i'm victor o the director of the gallery.

>> (speaking foreign language.) >> many larger scale of that place in collaboration in '81 pan we all have a successful exhibition and have x ambitions in hong kong most important in 2013 a large-scale exhibition at the open air museum in japan it

laughed for seven months the museum give us positive feedback we thank inform mayor lee's mayor lee's invitation. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> out of the "x" ambitions we like the civic center plaza the most this large exhibition is fanatic thanks to the city and county of san francisco for providing an amazing space.

>> (speaking foreign language.) >> the skrurpdz is vibrant colors with shapes their personableable and approachable and suitable for a landmark and parks and the green space the arts are a dialog with environmenalists i hope this exhibition will delight the city of san francisco. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> thank you for everyone

coming here thank you again (clapping.) thank you very much and now before our last speaker the artist who's art your admiring i want to call your attention to the staff and folks that worked with the artist please raise your hand (clapping) >> (speaking foreign language.) >> and, of course as mayor ed lee received artist started in the restaurant ambition we're glad he put down his chopsticks and picked up tools. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> the artist

(clapping.) >> (speaking foreign language.) >> hello, everyone allison park very glad to stand here and happy to see my sculptures at the civic center plaza >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i bring my not speeding i

like to give my gratitude to the city of san francisco for giving me the opportunity. >> thank you to the mayors invitation this time my animals traveled open 8 large containers is like novs arc i hope those skurlts will bring happiness and pleasure to people in san

francisco. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> my animal have the concept of a global village in our eyes animals are humans by friends i specific made one sculpture for san francisco it is the eagle do have of peace american people emblem for the u.s. an elephant and the vibrance and the colors is also a kind of interaction in the open space the most interesting one i observed called the frog i saw a lot of people putting points on it to

make a wish their interacting interacting are the sculpture that's exactly what i want to see. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> this couple of days and saw a lot of people faxing photos everyone was a big smile on their face i hope during the exhibition people are will come and enjoy the photos and hope to enjoy the success with the people in san francisco i look

forward to having more exhibitions in san francisco thank you very much (clapping.) thank you, thank you thank you very much and if i can now invite all the dignitaries from the front right now to come on stage we'll get photos and for those who tweaked the hash tag is honking yee sf i'll remind everyone that 81 pay is one the orderly relationship in san francisco and their direct flights thank you all for coming on behalf of the reply lap and the honorable mayor edwin lee and thank you for coming.

>> (speaking foreign language.) >> (clapping) it is great to be here in san francisco and particularly wonderful to be here add this memorial. bob mac donalds secretary of veteran affairs. it is my first trip oon and behalf of [inaudible] to the veterans of our country. we had a meeting this morning, we had mayor lee of course, our great host from the great city of san francisco. we had mayor liby shaft from oakland who

couldabout join us for this consference and mayor sam [inaudible] is here from van jos and dave [inaudible]. we all met and discussed what we can do to eliminate veterans homelessness. there is tru-minds work deeing done in the bay area for veterans. i visited the medical center in san francisco and palo alto and they were 2 of the ones i visited when i became secretary and later today i'll have the opportunity to visit our regional benefits office in oakland. the is a cor ligz of good will here in san francisco represented by the work that is being done in the bay area as well asthis memorial. this is sth first time we brought together mayors and county leaders in a single geographic area and i can tell you based

on todays conversation we'll continue to do this all across the country as we work to eliminate veterans homelessness. we had a productive discussion and talked about the best practices were and what we needed to do to improve in the future and share what is work withing. ultimately we talked about what is best for our veterans and agree there is a moral obligation to end veterans homelessness. as you know, president obama made a bold but attainable goal to ends veterans hometlessness by the oned thf year. he believers as i do that no one has fault for this country should have to fight to have a roof over their head. since 2010 we reduced veterans homelessness by 33 percent and a 43 percent decrease in veterans living on the street. we are pushing hard to eradicate veterans

homelessness by the onedf this year. ending veterans homelessness doesn't mean we can prevent every veteran from a housing crisis in the future, but it does mean when and if a housing crisis occurs we have system in place to identify and quickly house all our veterans. right now va is undergoing the largest reorganization in history. we are reorienting ourselves around veterans out comes and look at everything we do through had lens of the veteran. one of the strategies we are using is increasing use of strategic partnership. we haven't partnerships to be more important in the work and ending veterans homelessness. we have vital partnerships at federal, state and local level that allowed to make substantial progress to date and insure or future success. at the federal level the department of housing urban

dwept and also the department of labor are great partners in terms of providing vouchers and other important resources. mayors from across the country have signed the first ladies mayors challenge to end veterans homelessness. as part of that challenge 570 mayors, governors and other local officials have committed to ending veterans homelessness in their community. mayor lee made that commitment a long time goy and today the new mayor of oakland mayor shaft and mayor recardo agreed to join that challenge and pleased to is add them to the the grope. local non profit organizations like [inaudible] here in san francisco and others across the country have been the boots thereon ground we need to get the job done. it will take all us working together and committed to that same goal. with that, let me turn things over to each thof

local leaders. i'm proud of the work they are doing, out standing work and proud to be their partner in ending veterans homelessness. let me first call on mayor ed lee. mayor lee >> thank you for that introduction secretary mac dawnal and your leadership for our entire country. helly everybody, hpy earth day. i spent most of the morning talking about taking care of earth and climate change and i am so happy we are also simultaneously taking care of the very people we value on this earth. i want to just also welcome to the podium here spl visor jewelry christensen who is a graitpartner in the erftd as well as the entire board of supervisors. i want to thank bay area leaders today like mayor shaft, but also samlocardo and also the

president of santa clara county board of supervisors, david cor tezy and representatives of the invaluable pu[inaudible] that is sauch strong partner. i want to welcome veteran affairs qu we have sited roithd now in the memorial and it is such a bump setting. the sun came out when we were ready to announce this so i know is a blessing more and when we get this veterans memorial building done it will be more fwlessing, so thank you very much for doing all the great favor and finishing the seismic good project. san francisco, is a place that honors and cares for the brave men and women that serve and have served our united states armed services. in fact, we stand here today as a physical embodiment of our

cities gratitude. it is also a symbol that our city honors veterans not just with words, but our own actions. i may have made that commitment when it was a challenge to me as a mayor secretary, but when i came back i asked for a lot of help. i asked for the team work that has been representative of the sports teams as we talked earlier about. it is always this team work that puts the solution together. we started programs like veterans connect, veterans portal so the veterans are easily accessed and linked to housing and education and jobs and other social services. when the veterans rern from service the city provides them with the necessary fraining and education to get thore jobs in

the 21 century and that is why we make a commitment to make sure the city college is accredited because that is where the veterans cluster back from service. late last year we housed 130 formally homeless veterans in a safe neighborhood at 250 kerny street and last year i committed to president obama and first ladyo balma the challenge to end veterans homelessness by the end of this year. we are delivering action gaen for our veterans. we are housing veterans on the streets with mental illness and mental health challenges, substance abuse isues or hiv and aids and who have been homeless for over oo a year or 4 times in the past 3 years. we have done this by forging great partnerships with veterans affair, department of housing and urban development or hud, the veterans medical center,

housing authority, numerous non profits and in specifically our [inaudible] shares and private sector partners and more and more partnerships with our real estate and property owners in the city. thanks to all of our great partners. today i am proud to announce that san francisco has met this challenge by committing the resources necessary to house all our citiescrineicly homeless veterans by the end of this year. we have made housing veterans a priority by providing more local resources need to succeed. allocated additional funding for fiscal year 15/16 and 2017 and 8 budget so we can house all the homeless veterans by the end of the year. we'll continue to

build on the success. we received over 200 new project based vouchers for the coming rear through huds vast program which combines rental assistance from hud with case management and clinical services provided by the u.s. department of veteran affairs. this will be able to house more veterans and by wurging together will accomplish even more. we have got to continue thinking inovateively about this challenge. it is never about one city or county, it is about mayors and countys working together with the private sector, working together with housing providers with public housing to accomplish all this. here in san francisco, we have been proceed to open the cities first navigation center which identifies our homeless and gets them into rapid rehousing.

we work with all the partners and today is a demonstration that we can't do alone and irk with in isiloss. the bulb of the meeting together with all the other mayor jz county representatives is how to get out of the silos iand into the collaboration we so need to survive. our work is not done and as we know every day, more veterans tragicly fall into homelessness. we understand the incredible challenge we have in the bay area of how expensive it is to do the work necessary here, but we are not going to let that be our barrier. san francisco can and will do more for our homeless veterans and i look forward to working in partnership with oaklond, san jose and santa clara county foohouse our most needed veterans. with that

i-i'll give it back to the secretary to introduce the rest of our speakers. thank you >> thank you mayor lee for your instrational words and commitment and also your ac. i would now like to introduce mayor samara dardyo san zose >> i want to thank secretary mac donald for convening us t. it is meaningful when our leaders in washington convene local leaders to tackle challenges we all share and also want to thank mayor lee for hosting us and his leadership in san francisco and meeting the goal of insuring conicly homeless vets are housed in the city of san francisco. i just came into office 15 weeks ago and taking on the same challenge and we know we valot shorter run way to be able to meet that challenge, but it is important fortuse focus our energy and efforts because after all, our

veterans risked aesk for us. and we can do better. we have over 700 homeless vets based on our last census in santsa clara county in 2013, i'm guessing the recent census will reveal we have even more homeless vets. we know the cost of living is more challenging particularly for the poor and working poor and we have to do more. that is why i'm looking forward to a renewed collaboration with the va to see how we can better break down the silocal, share information to insure services are match would the veterans for mental helt, for alcohol and substance abuse, all the many needs as we try to get more of our vets off the streets and out of the creaks and under a roof. and for us in san jose we recognize the critical need of innovation.

it is the largest city in the region and silicon valley we work with non profit like down [inaudible] engage homeless individuals and cleaning the streets and creaks they lived in in exchange for affordable housing and jobs and job training and we are able to house over 84 # chronicly homeless individuals [inaudible] with the city and county of santa clara and non profit agencies. we have lot of work to do and look forward to working with all the county. dave [inaudible] is going to speak in a mopet to meet this important goal. we have to do better by our vets, they deserve it. thank you. >> thank you sam, indeed it is very inspiring after only 15 month to take on a challenge with a short run way ahead, but