here 37 years, and i live with mental health challenges, it every time i ended up homeless, they became worse or, when i got housing, they became better. as someone who is two years from being a senior, a someone who has mental health challenges and now i have physical challenges, and getting ready to get operations, i will probably lose my leg, mint lose my job, and lose my housing. i do not want to be a senior in a wheelchair trying to figure out what i am going to do next. i have interviewed too many people who have had this problem we have to fix this. we as a society are measured by the way we treat our elders. we as a society are measured by the way we treat our elders. let's do better. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> edward mason, just following onto the comments that were there, is how are we measured as

a society? i consider the fact, in revealing all of this, we spent about $2 billion a day on defence, and you have to say defence for what? and then with the taxing decreases that have occurred, there is just such -- there's just such a mismatch between how we treat our elderly and also the disabled and the least among us, i think it is imperative that unfortunately we have to do it at the local level now because we cannot rely on it -- on any other level. and also, what's going on with senate bill 50 or 827 and all the iterations that are going on from that, the philosophy of the trickle down doesn't trickle down as we are seeing here by the a.m.i., so there really needs to be action at the local level to accommodate this. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker.

>> i'm in chinatown c.d.c. i think it is a question of numbers. we have heard really clearly from past testify or is about the need to, and one could say, well, you know, there is need at all levels of a.m.i., and there is the city of the doesn't have infinite resources, but the reality is, that the program that currently comes out of the mere touch office on housing is based on two completely wrong premises, one, we measure median income for the whole population, and then we assess those levels to senior populations. now if we look at the area median income in san francisco for a single income earner, it is approximately $80,000. we have done some research, and we have shown that that same value for a senior his $19,000.

you can imagine right there and then that if you've then built affordable housing at 55% of area median income and market it for seniors like you have heard now for an hour and a half, it is unaffordable for folks. you can also look at a simple fact like how much -- i went back and looked at the a.m.i. levels from 2016 and 2017 and 2018, the average median -- the area median income for san francisco went up in the last 24 months by $7,000. i don't think that any of the seniors that testified here or that are out there had their income increased by $7,000 in the last 24 months, so we should really look at what we built, and ensure that what we built is reflective of the population we intend to serve. we have some studies here that i would like to put into the

record, and i will hand to the clerk. thank you very much. >> thank you. next speaker, please if there any other members of the public would like to testify on this item, please follow, and we will come and grab those. >> i'm also at chinatown community development center. we were also participating in the working group. i'm here to make sure that some of the documents that were presented at the working group are made part of the record. i provided a copy of the actual recommendations here, but i wanted to go back to the pipeline because -- and present a revealing map to us that we are aware, in many respects, the affordable housing production pipelines, so to speak, is not

something that is apparent to even organizations like chinatown c.d.c., which is an affordable housing provider, but it is apparent from the pipeline , and this is a map that was presented to us by the marriage's office of housing that shows -- mayor's office of housing that shows no senior housing plan over the next five years, the rest of this twin peaks, it looks like, and moreover, it showed that the entire pipeline, the future for affordable housing for seniors, over 5,000 units planned, only 669 are being planned for seniors. this is grossly out of whack relative to the population in need, so one of the considerations that we looked at in our working group, was looking at the poverty population. the share of persons under

poverty who are over 60 is 24% of the population of san francisco. we are only building 12% of our future pipeline for persons who are seniors. there is something wrong. that is our future unless we change that, unless we do something with this bond. our trajectory could be we will have scarcity and fewer people -- [indiscernible]. >> thank you. i think these are perfect comments to wrap this hearing up that was very well stated. let me ask, are there any other members of the public would like to testify on item number 6? seeing none, we will close public comments. first of all, i want to thank president you and the cosponsors of this hearing for having this opportunity, which i think is extremely timely as he is actually discussing what is going to go into this bond, but i particularly want to thank everybody who took time out of their day to express all of this

we are, right now, in the midst of, as mr. adams well knows, of putting together something that the voters will vote for that truly reflects the needs of san francisco, and hearing from the senior community at this point is absolutely right, and i say that somebody, to as i said at the beginning of this hearing, represents the district with the highest number of low-income seniors, and i cannot tell you how many stories i hear every day. those are the people who are targeted. as we saw in the case of mrs. lee by that rapacious speculator, mr. miller, and those are the heart-wrenching stories that we need to address. of course, land is a big issue, but if you look at what we did with the former freeway parcels in that corner of the city, those opportunities, i think, exist in every corner of the

city. it is not just laguna honda, but in many places on the west side, on the east side, there are units that we can acquire and rehab and stabilize, as we have seen along pacific avenue, and there's a lot more work to be done, but you are absolutely right. it is not only about senior housing, it is about extremely low income seniors, and there is an absolute correlation, like we just heard from a woman who is living in her van, between what happens if we cannot have those people age in place as it relates to our homeless crisis. the numbers are there. the majority of homeless individuals in san francisco, by her own statistical account are people who were housed in san francisco, and the folks who are most vulnerable are low-income seniors. let's get to work on that bond. i hope something materializes that we will all be proud of and

that the voters will be proud of , and will embrace. with that, i will turn it over to supervisor safai. >> thank you to all the individuals who came out today to spend their time to speak on the record about this important issue. although supervisor peskin has the highest number of seniors living in poverty, i have the highest number of seniors aging in place in the city and county of san francisco, and many of those are ones that are vulnerable to being homeless or without an opportunity with an affordable home to live in. this is an extremely important issue for me and for our district, and it is a very, very high priority. in the past year when we try to do proposition d., we set aside a significant portion of that bond measure -- of that tax measure to target low-income seniors. we need to do that again in this bond, at the numbers speak for themselves. only 12% of the units in the

pipeline are dedicated to low-income seniors, whereas the overall numbers in the population far exceed that, and the number here that they say is about 750, which would bring parity to the representation in the population, so i just want to say, for the record, i appreciated all the people who came out today, i appreciate president ghee for holding this hearing, and i'm proud to cosponsor this. i do want to say that we will work and do everything we can to prioritize low-income seniors and geographic parity for that matter, once it is implemented. when you look at this map and you look at where senior housing is built, it does not afford a lot of opportunities. , in fact, the last affordable housing that was built in the outer mission was felt almost 20 years ago for low-income seniors , and that is the only affordable housing that has been

built in the last 75 years in district 11. we are fortunate to have a few developments in the pipeline, we are close to getting those done, but neither of those will be dedicated to low income seniors this is a very important issue. to push for low-income seniors have their place in the affordable housing bond. thank you. >> supervisor haney? >> thank you. to everyone, thank you for sponsoring this hearing. a couple things, obviously thank you to everyone who came out and shared their stories, their own story, or stories of people that they work with or knew personally. i think that this is just demonstrating a tremendous need that we have in our city that is essential for us to plan for and

to make much more significant investments in order to meet. it is absolutely, you know, unacceptable and unimaginable that so many seniors would be facing eviction after that. people who are living in s.r.o.s who need to move onto affordable housing and don't have access to that. it just has so many levels to this need that we heard about today. a couple things, only affordable housing bond, i agree that we absolutely need to move forward with the recommendations that have been made about ensuring that there is investment in senior housing and low-income senior housing in the bonds. i continue to hope that we will actually find a way to make the bond figure in general, and i think that would hopefully allow us to do even more. i think that is something that i'm still pushing for and wanting as to think bigger on, and i hope that we remember this conversation also when we are

looking at the further policy opportunities to increase the funding that's available for affordable housing. i started the process to increase the jobs housing linkage fee, which will be coming soon, and which could provide us with additional funding for affordable housing that could help to address this gap. what i also heard today is that there are some policy considerations that we really need to look at closer. i want to appreciate the folks who brought forward some areas in which we are really not calculating this in the right way and not doing the qualification in the right way. i think that is something we should continue to focus on and look at, and there also needs to be a long-term plan for how we will meet this need to. we brought this up the other day when we saw the housing balance report, and one of the things that i raised was, as a part of

that, we are supposed to be putting forward a plan to actually get to the affordable level and goals that we have set as a safety, and we did not see that plan, and i think we similarly need to see a plan for how we will make much greater investments in housing for seniors and low-income seniors, extremely low income seniors, because if we continue to do this one off and don't see a plan for how we are actually going to close this gap and meet this need to, and also the full range of it. this does not look the same for every person in every situation, and we talked a bit about preservation, and people who are facing evictions, people in s.r.o.s, there's a lot of different range to how we meet this need to, and i think we have some really good policy ideas to start from, and in increasing the investment that comes out of the affordable housing bond is a really good first step, though clearly we have a long way to go from there

thank you to everyone who was part of this. i will also continue to advocate for this. i know we all talked about how this impacts our districts in various ways, this is obviously a very, very important thing to me, as well as district six as a home for not just many low-income seniors, but many of these housing developments as well. thank you, chair peskin. >> thank you, colleagues. with that, we will take a motion to file this item and look forward to our ongoing deliberations around the pond which will be happening both in the committee that has been convened, as well as in public sessions of the board at the budget and finance committee. so that item as filed, and the committee is adjourned. americae

celebration committee. [applause] >> we're here today to kick off the celebration of a.p.a. heritage month. i hope all of you when you are coming to the civic centre have seen all of our banners up around civic centre. i hope you take a look at them. they are really beautiful, and really a source of pride. all of our basses, our adds are on the muni mobile buses. this is the month that we are

celebrating our diverse asian-pacific heritage. we have a whole month of art and cultural programs offered to our citizens, as well as everybody from the bay area and abroad. we have a whole month of activities because of all of our celebration partners and their hard work. the san francisco public library , city librarian, michael lambert his here. [applause]. >> our celebration partner. every other day, there is a program at one of the libraries in the city, in the many neighborhoods. thank you. and then we have our largest asian american film festival as part of our celebration with cam fast, our festival director is here. [applause] >> thank you. please look up all of the movies and go to see more movies. we are really glad that it moved from march to may last year and

it was really great. and the last but not least, the asian art museum right across the street from city hall. they also have a month a very special exhibits. so i hope -- now we have compiled a master calendar of events. you can pick up a copy when you are on your way out, but it is also online at our website. you can see a whole month listing of activities, and we welcome you to go and enjoy yourself, and most importantly, tell your friends about it. last year, as far as the awards and programs are concerned, and milestones and recognitions, last year was the first year that we started first annual agyeman -- edwin motley public service award in honor of his legacy and piglet -- public service. at this moment, i would like to invite carmen to, the first winner of our awards last year

to give her greetings. carmen? [applause] >> thank you. good morning, everybody. i am the elected assessor of san francisco. it is amazing how much changes in just one year, but i am so thrilled to be here to be able to kick off a.p.a. heritage month. i think for a young asian-american who grew up in the united states with parents who immigrated here, i can't tell you of a more important thing to do that to recognize our heritage, to remember where we came from, and to celebrate all of our struggles, but also all of our accomplishments over the years. i think as our mayor has spoken about in the past, we have a wonderfully diverse community and city here that is our strength. and part of that is recognizing all of the contributions everyone makes here. i was so honored to be selected to be the first recipient of the

edwin lee award last year. he is a person, i think means a lot to many of us, not only as a mentor, but also a role model. somebody who dedicated his whole life to supporting not only our civic work here in government, but also before then, really advocating for civil rights and making sure that our community was heard, and heard loudly, and heard effectively. i want to thank each and every one of you. there are numerous people who are here that i want to thank because you are commissioners, you're participating, you are making your voices, your legacy be known here, and that is incredibly important. i could not think of something that our mayor -- i relate mayor would it be more proud of fantasy all of your faces are gathered to make sure that legacy continues on. there are many commissioners who are here, i want to recognize, of course, i.v. lee who is one of our newest members on the city college board. [applause]. >> i also want to recognize jenny lam who is one of our

newest members on the san francisco unified school district board. [applause] >> two incredibly smart and able women of color, a.p.a. leaders that i am incredibly proud to serve alongside. i hope that everybody takes advantage of this month to celebrate our culture, to talk about our culture, to show it, to be proud to, because it is something to be proud about. i also want to make sure to thank our official sponsors as well as our community sponsors. just taking a look at this list, there are so many impressive organizations who have been part of this fabric of san francisco. whether it is an industry or our communities. thank you for supporting and recognizing how important the event is today. thank you so much. [applause] with that, of course. i want to introduce someone who is very special to us and very well-known, in native san franciscan, our mayor, london breed, who i am telling you, any

event that there possibly is in the city, she is at. it doesn't matter what time of day, where it is across the city , there she is looking fabulous, but also really espousing the values of the city about the importance of diversity, the importance of creating opportunity, and so i want to invite appear mayor london breed. [applause] -- invite up here mayor london breed. [applause]. >> thank you so much to our assessor recorder, carmen chu who is an incredible leader in the city, and the reason why we are able to generate so much revenue, to spend on all the really important things that we know we need to do to really change our city for the better, because we know, as she said, that our strength is our diversity, and with diversity, we protect our diversity, we celebrate our diversity, and we

are excited about the launch of a.p.a. heritage month in san francisco, beginning may 1st. there will be a celebration, and a number of activities throughout san francisco. i want to thank claudine chang for her vision in 2005. [applause] >> she really stepped up to the plate and said it's important that we really focus on a celebration of our community, of our heritage, of what makes san francisco special, that we elevate that and we come together and those put -- reticular celebrations. thank you so much to claudine on the committee who continue to volunteer countless hours to make a.p.a. heritage month in san francisco such an amazing time for all of us, and thank you so much, no need to give me another pin, because i have about seven of them. [laughter]. >> i'm happy to share with anyone who doesn't have one because i would get one every year. claudine is right there, but it

is so great to be here and to celebrate, and to really take this opportunity to remember i relate mayor ed lee and the work that he did as an incredible public servants. he wasn't just our mayor. before he even became mayor he was so committed to san francisco, and what i really appreciated about him, especially as they served as the director of public works, he would basically bring his kids out to help clean up district five when i was at the african-american culture complex and i used to think, that is kind of messed up. they are rubbing their eyes, you know, out there early in the morning, he is saying grabbed a broom, grabbed a broom. really, the kind of values he instilled in his children, the kind of love and support he has had for san francisco over the years, just really made him an incredible public servants, and what a great honor to name this

awarded the edwin motley public service award that has -- that is given every single year during the celebration. carmen, of course, carries on his legacy and has those same values and commitments to our city. definitely fitting that she receives the inaugural award, and today i wanted to take this opportunity to really acknowledge the award recipient this year who has been a dedicated public servant for look a day over 49, but sandy morey has really been a trailblazer in san francisco, a fighter for our seniors, a fighter for japan town in the western edition, a fighter to try and bring equity and programs to communities that are often neglected, she, along with

steve nakata joe, founded a place for seniors to live, a place for seniors to get hot, home-cooked meals and delivery programs and providing culturally supportive meals throughout san francisco their fight and advocacy for food equity and ensuring seniors to get three square meals a day through support with their delivery program providing millions of more funding that is dedicated to helping seniors age indignity, age in their communities, the list goes on and on, when i was on the board of supervisors, people know that one of the persons i could never say no to west sandy morey. anytime anyone wanted something,

to send sandy to talk to london breed because she would come in there and give it to me straight and give it to me -- just really focusing on the people, focusing on the community, and then she would also remind me that her husband signed my first paycheque at age 14 when i was with the mayor charge at youth employment and training program. you never forget the person who signed your first paycheque, do you? it was jeff morey, at that time, minimum wage i want backpage -- backpay, jeff both her and her husband have been so committed to the community, they have an incredible legacy and she has been an incredible force for decades, and we were so grateful to have you here and your advocacy. she is a kind of person who does the work and really skates under

the radar so that is similar to how mayor lee was. i will tell you, i was going to his office and i would say i need your help with this, and he said sure, i will help you with this, and then i would say, but i need to take the credit for it , and he would say, okay. i don't do that as mayor, don't think about it, anybody. [laughter] >> just really a quiet force, your commitment to really taking care of people and making sure people have access to all the incredible things that san francisco has to offer. we are so grateful for your service and your commitment to san francisco, and excited about you being honored. i know that the official recognition will take place on may 1st, hopefully you will all be there with us to celebrate sandy morey and her

contributions to san francisco, as well as so many of the events and the performances, and all that this a.p.a. heritage month has to offer. thank you to all the sponsors who are listed here, but especially to post mates who is a heritage champion, and may 1 st hasn't started, because they would be a heritage champion, with so many people who time and time again continue to support this incredible celebration. we also have a lot of commissioners here and i'm going to be honest, i just appointed some of them, so i know who they are, but some of the ones that have been serving for some time, i may not be familiar, but thank you also much. if all the commissioners who are here for the city and county of san francisco, we just took a photograph out of the rotunda. can you please raise your hand so we can give you a hand for your service? [applause]

>> i see malcolm young we just appointed to the airport. and alan lowe who is on the recreation and park commission. sharon you're on the treasure island board. and we have stephen lee who is on the entertainment commission, and a little secret about stephen, what was the club, the one up club that i used to go to before i was 21? remember you used to let us in? [laughter] >> you know i am just kidding. it was the first club i went to when i turned 21. [laughter] >> but an incredible force in the nightlife industry. thank you, stephen, for all your hard work in the city, and so many other commissioners who do a great job to really commit their lives and to dedicate their time to serve san

francisco. that is what it is all about. it is really about serving our city, making our city better for so many folks, and i also want to acknowledge, i know earlier our new librarian, michael lambert. [applause] he actually was just tired, even , though i thought he was already the librarian. he was the acting librarian, and he was definitely acting like he was a librarian. of course, it is only fitting that we made him permanent. great to see all of you here today. i am looking forward to this amazing celebration, thank you also much for all you do and continue to do to make san francisco that syllable --

>> thank you everyone. i want to acknowledge the committee. is always in the details of it comes to organizing a month like this, and thank you may or breed for that wonderful introduction. i want to thank my husband for being here who has been a long time supporter and advocate in san francisco, and all my friends from japan town, and all my personal friends who are here today. thank you for being here. i want to make a point in terms of our relationship with japan town and mayor lee. we knew him when he was with the asian law caucus, and he started out as an attorney. he was doing community work and

advocacy then, and then he went to the city. he became the head of hrc, then he became the head of d.p.w., anything he became the chief administrative officer and then our mayor. all of those times that he was the leader in those areas, he always, always supported japan town, and we really appreciate it all these years. it is one of those things where you remember the people from the very beginning, and when they become really people in power, you still remember them to. thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you, may or breed, and thank you, sandy. during the event wednesday, the a.p.a. heritage awards event, we are also going to recognize two very, very historically significant milestones. the first one is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the agents of san francisco

state. that was a result -- [applause] >> they will we'll hear from them at the event. it is really history and the making. at that time, 1969, it was the first asian-american southeast department in the entire country today, they are still the largest such department in the entire country, so we look forward to celebrating that and hearing more details next wednesday. the second milestone that we will be recognizing is the chinese railroad workers. we thought about the 150th anniversary. [applause] >> there are a lot of celebrations, a lot of talks this year, were there has been about the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. we think about everything and we think about what about the railroad is relevant to our community?

what it is irrelevant about us because of the 90% of the workforce constructing the railroad are chinese-americans. they got recruited to come here, they built the railroad against all of us, but they were never recognized. they were never recognized, given a day when the completion ceremony happened in 1969, may 10th. there was -- the golden spike was put into utah, and none of the workers were invited to the ceremony, even when we celebrated the centennial of the completion of the railroad 150 years ago, a group of chinese historical society members went to the point and they were promised three minutes to recognize ever chinese railroad workers and they were told when they got their that there was no time for them. it was really pathetic. so i think that a lot of leaders

from around the country have decided that this is not going to happen on may 10th, and a large number of us will be here on utah. a large number of asian-americans will be here in utah because we want to make sure that chinese railroad workers take their place in the history of this country. we really want to thank them. [applause] >> in association of that, we are going to give to special recognitions. one is professor gordon chang from stanford university. he was widely recognized as the person who really inspired a lot of projects in commemoration of this special occasion back in 2012 where he got a grant from stanford university and started documenting the life and history of chinese railroad workers, to the extent that now there is an oral history and a digital archive and there's enough materials to teach a class. we can't wait to hear the professor on wednesday.

at the same time, we also want to recognize a very special friend who has done so much in making sure that we honor the chinese railroad workers. but he actually has done a lot more in the entertainment industry. i was so impressed when they told me about this memorial that they were going to do in sacramento. unbelievably, yes, he did that. and it was completed. thank you, congratulations stephen. [applause]. >> we are also going to present a special recognition to stephen lee next wednesday. as may or breed has mentioned during our ceremony, we have a lot of unique cultural performances. we will have recognitions, we will have the participations of the san francisco city committees and councillor core

we will have members from osaka, post mates, what human city, type a, from seoul, korea, san francisco prides itself on the relationship we have with our city cyst -- sister cities. ho chi minh city will be celebrating their 25th year next year. we are very happy. we look forward to doing that in 2020. at this time, i would like to invite -- it is not in the script, but we have a very special gift for you. our commemorative poster for this year. thomas lee, our artists, has designed it. [laughter]. >> every year thomas was the person who designed all of our creative his, and every year, we have a commemorative poster.

[applause] [laughter] >> thank you so much, thank you. >> thank you. please feel free to take a picture with the poster if you would like. it is very beautiful. thank you, thomas. thomas was responsible for the design of all of our materials. so scott adams, would you like to come and say a few words about the a.p.a. heritage foundation and introduce the foundation directors? >> thank you, claudine, and thank you everyone for being here. a lot of familiar faces. a.p.a. heritage foundation was founded, obviously initially to raise funds and support the

mayor's annual a.p.a. heritage month festivities. due to the tremendous hard work of our small board and the wonderful committee, we have expanded our program throughout the year to include community partner forums, and a whole host of other things. without further ado, i would like to introduce my fellow board members. irena riley is our outgoing treasurer, jj lara is our current treasurer, matt mui from at&t is not here, he has been a long time member of the board, and steve wilson from withers worldwide. i don't see them, but they have worked hard and very devotedly to make sure that this event comes off every year without a hitch. so thank you all. we look forward to celebrating with you in may. [applause]

>> we're coming to a close of our press conference. thomas, maybe thomas can tell us a bit about our reception and what we have installed here at city hall. >> hi, everyone. my name is thomas lee, and i'm one of the celebration cochairs with alcaraz, our entertainment commissioner, as well as angela pang who is -- who is not here today. we are very excited. after the awards ceremony, we will have a wonderful celebration at city hall where we will welcome the community to asian cuisine and cultural performances. after we celebrate the honourees , we get to mingle and mix and chat with each other. from all of our sponsors, community partners, we look forward to seeing everyone at the after party here at city hall right after the award ceremony, and the celebration doesn't end there. we have a lot of nonprofits will be joining us that day who will be highlighting special events and activities throughout the month of may. please join us and find out more

about it at our website. thank you. >> thank you. [applause]. >> thank you all for being here. see you next wednesday.streets. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i wanted to wish you a best wishes and congratulations the community has shifted a lot of

when i was growing up in the 60s and 50's a good portion of chicano-american chinese-american lived in north beach a nob hill community. >> as part the immigrant family is some of the recreation centers are making people have the ability to get together and meet 0 other people if communities in the 60s a 70s and 80s and 90s saw a move to the richmond the sunset district and more recently out to the excelsior the avenue community as well as the ensuring u bayview so chinese family living all over the city and when he grape it was in this area. >> we're united. >> and growing up in the area that was a big part of the my leave you know playing

basketball and mycy took band lessons and grew up. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> allergies welcome to the community fair it kicks off three weeks of celebrations for the year and let's keep everybody safe and celebrate the biggest parade outside of china on february 11th go best wishes and congratulations and 3, 2, 1

happy enough is enough. >> i grew up volley ball education and in media professional contrary as an educator he work with all skids whether or not caucasian hispanic and i african-american cumber a lot of arrest binge kids my philosophy to work with all kids but being here and griping in the chinese community being a chinese-american is important going to american school during the day but went to chinese school that is community is important working with all the kids and having them exposed to all culture it is important to me. >> it is a mask evening. >> i'd like to thank you a you all to celebrate an installation of the days here in the asian

art museum. >> one time has become so many things in the past two centuries because of the different did i licks the immigration officer didn't understand it became no standard chinese marine or cantonese sproupgs it became so many different sounds this is convenient for the immigration officer this okay your family name so this tells the generations of immigrants where they come from and also many stories behind it too. >> and what a better way to celebrate the enough is enough nuru with the light nothing is more important at an the hope

the energy we. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> relative to the current administration it is, it is touching very worrisome for our immigrant frames you know and some of the stability in the country and i know how this new president is doing you know immigration as well as immigrants (fireworks) later than you think new year the largest holiday no asia and china those of us when my grandparents came over in the

19 hundreds and celebrated in the united states chinese nuru is traditional with a lot of meani meaning. >> good afternoon my name is carmen chu assessor-recorder i want to wish everything a happy new year thank you for joining us i want to say. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> (speaking foreign language.) >> i'm proud to be a native san franciscan i grew up in the

chinatown, north beach community port commission important to come back and work with those that live in the community that i grew up in and that that very, very important to give back to continue to work with the community and hope e help those who may not be as capable in under serving come back and give >> the goal is simple. it's to raise women's voices. >> learn a little bit about what you should be thinking about in the future. >> we had own over 300 -- over 300 people who signed up for the one-on-one counseling today. >> i think in the world of leading, people sometimes discount the ability to lead quietly and effectively.

the assessor's office is a big one. there are 58 counties in the state of california and every single county has one elected assessor in the county. our job is to look at property taxes and make sure that we are fairly taxing every single property in san francisco. one of the big things that we do is as a result of our work, we bring in a lot of revenue, about 2.6 billion worth of revenue to the city. often, people will say, what do you do with that money, and i like to share what we do with property taxes. for every dollar we collect in property taxes, about 68 cents

of it goes to support public sstss, our police officers, our fire departments, our streets, our cleaning that happens in the city. but i think what most people don't know is 34 cents of the dollar goes to public education. so it goes to the state of california and in turn gets allocated back to our local school districts. so this is an incredibly important part of what we do in this office. it's an interesting place to be, i have to say. my colleagues across the state have been wonderful and have been very welcoming and share their knowledge with me. in my day-to-day life, i don't think about that role, being the only asian american assessor in the state, i just focus on being the best i can be, representing my city very well, representing the county of san francisco well. by being the only asian american assessor, i think you have a job to try to lift up

and bring as many people on board, as well. i hope by doing the best that you can as an individual, people will start to see that your assessor is your elected leaders, the people that are making important decisions can look like you, can be like you, can be from your background. i grew up with a family where most of my relatives, my aunties, my uncles, my parents, were immigrants to the united states. when my parents first came here, they came without any relatives or friends in the united states. they had very little money, and they didn't know how to speak english very well. they came to a place that was completely foreign, a place where they had absolutely nobody here to help them, and i can't imagine what that must have been like, how brave it was for them to take that step because they were doing this in order to create an opportunity for their family. so my parents had odd jobs, my dad worked in the kitchens, my mom worked as a seamstress

sewing. as we grew up, we eventually had a small business. i very much grew up in a family of immigrants, where we helped to translate. we went to the restaurant every weekend helping out, rolling egg rolls, eating egg rolls, and doing whatever we need to do to help the family out. it really was an experience growing up that helped me be the person that i am and viewing public service the way that i do. one of the events that really stuck with me when i was growing up was actually the rodney king riots. we lived in southern california at the time, and my parents had a restaurant in inglewood, california. i can remember smelling smoke, seeing ashes where we lived. it was incredibly scary because we didn't know if we were going to lose that restaurant, if it was going to be burned down, if it was going to be damaged, and it was our entire livelihood. and i remember there were a lot

of conversations at that time around what it was that government to do to create more opportunities or help people be more successful, and that stuck with me. it stuck with me because i remain believe government has a role, government has a responsibility to change the outcomes for communities, to create opportunities, to help people go to school, to help people open businesses and be successful. >> make sure to be safe, and of course to have fun. >> and then, i think as you continue to serve in government, you realize that those convictions and the persons that you are really help to inform you, and so long as you go back to your core, and you remember why you're doing what you're doing, you know, i think you can't go wrong. it's funny, because, you know, i never had thought i would do this. i became a supervisor first for the city under very unusual circumstances, and i can remember one day, i'm shopping with friends and really not having a care in the world about politics or running for

office or being in a public position, and the next day, i'm sworn in and serving on the board of supervisors. for many of us who are going through our public service, it's very interesting, i think, what people view as a leader. sometimes people say, well, maybe the person who is most outspoken, the person who yells the loudest or who speaks the loudest is going to be the best leader. and i think how i was raised, i like to listen first, and i like to try to figure outweighs to work with -- out ways to work with people to get things done. i hope that time goes on, you can see that you can have all sorts of different leaders whether at the top of city government or leading organizations or leading teams, that there are really different kinds of leadership styles that we should really foster because it makes us stronger as organizations. >> take advantage of all the wonderful information that you have here, at the vendor booth, at our seminars and also the one-on-one counseling.

>> i wouldn't be where i was if i didn't have very strong people who believed in me. and even at times when i didn't believe in my own abilities or my own skills, i had a lot of people who trusted and believed i either had the passion or skills to accomplish and do what i did. if there was one thing that i can tell young women, girls, who are thinking about and dreaming about the things they want to be, whether it's being a doctor or being in politics, running an organization, being in business, whatever it is, i think it's really to just trust yourself and believe that who you are is enough, that you are enough to make it work and to make things successful.