san franciscan. my mother was there during the earthquake and my grandfather worked on the transcontinent railroad. thank you for this honour. it's been great making this film and i hope you'll see it some day. [cheers and applause]

>> next up, supervisor marr. >> for mayor tv month i'm proud to recognise maryanna and albert chow. a mother and son who has been exemplary residents and leaders in the parkside district. they represent their very best of the rich history of the chinese community's growing presence in contributions to our city and sunset district.

please come up. while in 2019, the chinese community and the border api community is clearly an interinaugurainterintegralpart . the role they play in the city today was made possible by decades of struggle, by movements to expand equal opportunity to win major policy changes including the repeal of the chinese exclusionability in 1943, the civil right's ability of 1964 and immigration reform in 1965 that did away with racist country of origin quotas to establish family reunification as a foundation for future immigration. so that the flowering and the vitality today and in 2019 is the result of all of this history of struggle and political change that we've engaged in with other communities of colour, as well.

and the chow family represents the best of what the api community represents in the sunset district in our city. they first moved to the sunset district in 1975 and maryanna started great wall hardware in 1983. they came from honin hong kong n 1966. at the time the family came virtually without money and the husband worked in restaurants. while maryanna worked as a seamstress. her husband became a general contractor. during this time, ahead raised three children and worked a full-time job and saved every penny to buy her family's first home this the sunset district.

and eventually to save more money to open the business, great wall hardware. the hardware business dove-tailed with her husband's contracting business and that was the very beginning. during the years since 1983 until now, she worked the hardware store alone until albert got out of school to help out. maryanna learned all hardware on her on and they expappe expandem 1100 queer feet 3,000 feet by of course papping the garage and backyard. on the community side, maryanna held sergeant-at-arms for the previous version for the people at parkside and sunset and for a brief time she was a president

and helped residents to be tennis courts to double as tai chi courts. now maryanna as relinished operationrelinquished thisto he. when possible, she like it's to take vacations and when she walks down tarvel street, she can't walk down the street without somebody saying hi. i want to acknowledge her son who has become an important leader in the sunset district, to the taking over the great wall hardware store but as a president of one of the most important neighborhoods and he's become an advocate for interest in the sunset district and pushing us here at city hall

putting a lot of heat on me in my first month addressing the real issues in the neighborhood and along taravel street. thank you to both of you for all that you contributed to the sunset district and our city and i'm very honoured to recognise you today. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, supervisor. i did come from hong kong to the united states and i did work very hard and also try very hard to teach all my children. now they all grow up now. and then, also, i tried to have a business.

any time the kids need me, i could have free time to help them first. family is a first priority for me. and then when i grow older, then i saw the neighbor needs a place to exercise, for the young ones or seniors, especially. that's why i work for a long time with the city to get the exercise area for our neighborhood. it's o on 26th and 28th 28th avenue. and also for the school, at the beginning, they wanted to build a school and the low-income

teacher resident. so i am thinking that is not right. we need a school. it has to and school and then low income, low income project. we cannot mix them together. so we work very hard and then we get the within school. western school. i'm glad that we have this school that we wanted and then we have the exercise area that we wanted and thank you to the city. thank you to all of the supervisors and thank you to all of my peers. thank you. [cheers and applause] >> i already speak too much so i'm glad to let my mom have the floor and i think she really deserves it. so on behalf of myself, and my

little son, wyatt, here, i would like to say thank you to the board of sou supervisors. as far as small businesses are concerned, lately there's been a lot of engagement with us and i hope this partnership continues and that we will move forward to make sanfrancisco as well and wonderful as we know it can be. now than.thank you. [cheers and applause]

>> next up is our supervisor from district 10 -- i mean district 11. [ laughter ] >> supervisor safaye. >> that's ok. i'm use odd tha used to that tr. [ laughter ] >> it's such an honor and i'm so excited to honor our api honoree from district 11. dori was bee born and raised inn immigrant family. she's of chinese and philippino dissent and attended the discovery school, school of epiphany, lower high school and sanfrancisco state university where she majored in ethnic studies. during one of her first classes,

she saw footage of her brother and father protesting at the hotel and it was then that she realized her own families history in san francisco. she felt a strong sense of pride knowing her father fought against eviction and displacement. i'm sorry, her father and her uncle, not her brother. dori has worked hard to continue her family's legacy and serve her community ever since she was able to have a job. for 12 years she worked with glide member church and through unconditional loved, she served san francisco. she currently serves of the vice president of the san francisco entertainment commission and as advisor for design. she's also currently leading the community engagement and communication strategies for the

san francisco department. children, youth and families where we saw the great work she was able to do last week at the advocacy day and what wonderful foes that we saw of everyone of us. [ laughter ] >> so with the work she's done there, continues and builds upon her track record and story-telling, event production and fundraising and this also, a lot of which comes from experiences from her own family. dori comes from a family of singers and dancers and as a child saw her own family perform all across the philippino bay area community and intergenerational celebrations and was proud to witness the proud pill pe philippinos coming together and keeping their culture alive here in the united

states for themselves and generations to follow. out through these powerful philippino american spaces of food, music and fellowship, she learned firsthand the power of community and philanthropy and giving back and that is why she worked so hard to create meaningful spaces and experiences that honor her community and inspire the next generation to rise up and lead. dori, i am truly proud of all that you have accomplished and excited to name you as the honoree to district 11 and i'm looking forward to see how you shape up the city to make it a better place for all those that follow and i want to give a special shout-out, and i know she will, too, to her mom who i actually met when i was campaigning door to door, almost a decade ago and i serenaded her at her window and her aunt that

is here as well. i know that is it in that tradition of two powerful women she continues the work she does. dori, the floor is yours and congratulations. (applause). >> president and my supervisor hero, besties, thank you for this opportunity. thank you to the d-11 family and for this recognition. i'm proud to be here with my mother mary and aunt gloria and my beloved community. it's an honor to have my narrative to the asian specific heritage celebration. growing up in san francisco, i didn't always see people like me in positions of power and influence. although i was raised in such a diverse city, people of colour who look like me did not seats

where decisions were made. that didn't mean our stories weren't being told. i'm grateful to all of those who surrounded me with their love, whit and wisdom and who taught in and many others to fight and speak my truth, to mask no difficulty and to claim no easy victories. this commendation is a seat at the table and i dea dedicate to those not here with us. to my father, and ton antonio, e me the great gift of the education and for people who fought for those amongst us and children and youth and families of exselcier.

together, lead carry this legacy of love and heritage forward. thank you. (applause).

next up is our supervisor from district 10, supervisor walton. >> thank you, president. today, district 10 would love to honor neil vivia for heritage month. neo is a visitation valley resident who has lived in the neighborhood for over 50 years and has a long history of working in the pacific islander community and the visitation valley in sunnydale

neighborhoods. neil organized the first i is aa contingent and he's shared his story, i'm ok, you're ok at many workshops and programmes. his story deals with the struggles he faced coming out, being bullied, attempted suicide, triumphs of becoming a father and bringing the lgbtq islanders together and he's a cofounder of utopia, united territories of pacific islander alliances, an organization that is a support, social and resource group for the lgbty p

polynesians. he was appointed to the human right's commission, lgbtq advisory committee working on senior issues, providing lgbtq resources and marginalized neighborhoods in sanfrancisco and appointed to the visitation valley, citizen's advisory committee by the mayor to advise the redevelopment agency and city in their consideration of establishing a redevelopment plan for the survey areas and visitation valley and to review policy documents to determine the need for and the potential effectiveness of a redevelopment programme for visitation valley.

he eventually became the pta president coordinating for parents and teachers and continued to advocate and educate the community on lgbtq issues. prior to activist, he was a former licensed cosmetologies in 1975 and worked as a stylist for five years and currently he worked with the community development center as a coordinator for the initiative, an organization serving the islander community for the last 25 years.

he worked with fa sill stating a healthy cooking and eating class once a week. thank you for all of the work that you do for our neighborhood, our pacific islander community, our lgbtq community. you make san francisco proud and i want to wish you a happy birthday as your birthday is tomorrow. [cheers and applause] >> thank you so much. what an honor. >> i thank you shamon for the

support. on thought the campaign, it can get pretty messy but he was always a gentleman. however, don't forget us up on the bill in the community center. this has been a journfy for me. i was thinking of retirement. i will be 63 next year and i think i'll take that and run with it. and have enjoyed just being in the presence of all of the leaders that have come through this building from diane feinsine. it's been such a rich, fulfilling journey. however, with that said, i cannot be the only token pi in the house. supervisors, there are many of us out there, jus you just haveo

look a little and then we can be inclusive of the api heritage month. one thing i noticed that is brand new is that there was food that was served. culturally, that is something expected, so i applaud you for recognising that. next time i'll bring salmoan food and you can have a taste of that. but the journey has been rich, not that i'm leaving any time soon and i plan to give you a little headache here and there, because that's what we do. i would like to acknowledge my executive director who has been a pillar, patsy teeto. acknowledge her for her wisdom and leadership. [cheers and applause]

this tribe behind me is my nieces. i forced them to come down. they said you're such a drama queen and i said that's what i live for. my teacher who is a retired san francisco deputy police officer. we have rich history here in san francisco. i applaud everybody here and if you're doing the work, do not forget your san francisco community. i am so humbled and i thank you so much. (applaud).

>> thank you. next up is supervisor ronan. >> thank you, president. if the amazing gwen park can come up to the front. with your adorable dog. it is my pressure to introduce the documentarian quen park for asian pacific heritage month. she was been documenting related to queer and transgender community with uplifting the voices of transgender women of colour and transgender elders and fighting against violence. she is one of the early arguers of the trans-march, the premiere trans pride event an one of the largest in the country and

produced, ed kitted and directed powerful videos and graphics to promote trans-day of anniversary annual anof vi visibility.theree chambers. she edited a powerful video of the event and went on to help cofound the taja coalition of transgender women of colour dedicated to promoting leadership and political awareness amongst trans-women in honour of taja. throughout her career, she has been fearless and consistently and exposed harmful stereotypes and focused importantly on the stories of queer and transgender

elders and histories since much of trans-history has been forgotten, debated or lost and takes great pride and enhances the way her community is perceived by others. guen is a second-generation raised on the east coast and attended college in southern california and moved to san francisco in 1995 and has been a resident of the mission district for 14 years and we are grateful to you for devoting your energy, and formidable skills to amplify to the diverse and queer people in sanfrancisco. you have always had the best interests of your community in mind. thank you for all of your work behind the scene and behind the camera and we see you and salute you and congratulations. [cheers and applause] >> thank you, supervisor ronan.

i just want to take a few minutes to talk about dreams. and to talk about comic books. when i was young, my parents encourage med to read. they didn't care what i read, as long i was reading. it could have been a textbook or comic book. of course, they liked the textbooks and i liked the comic books. some people would say that reading comic books is a waste of time, but i personally learned a lot. i learned that her heroes face challenges and the journey suspect always easy and neither is the fight. and i also learned that heroes sometimes lose, but no matter what, people keep going on and sometimes it was the challenges rather than the victories that shaped people. pout if i dream of doing somethg impossible, sometimes you can make it happen. i learned one person can change

the world if they believe in something hard enough and willing to fight with us. one story to illustrate this, from the comicbook sandman around 1990, so there will be spoilers, but story is 30 years old. in the story, there's a cat who's telling other cats about how cats used to run the world. back then, humans were small, tiny things and they're pretty much just cat's pets and play things. but one day, a human had a dream and it was a dream where there was a world that humans were in charge. he went around to other humans, told this story, shared his dream and eventually, he got people to believe. he said that if he got enough people to believe, and that number was not a lot, maybe just 1,000, the world would change. so he wept on his class, kept

talking, did his thing and got his thousand people and the world changed. now we're not in comicbook, so it's not quite that easy, but i did believe that dreams can change our world, also. if enough of us can dream and enough of us believe, then we, too, can create a better world. i believe in sanfrancisco i in o that does big and throws down and i believe all of this is possible, but we must dream. so i am asking, will you dream with me? and since we're not in a comicweek, will you fight with me? thank you. [cheers and applause]

>> next up is the supervisor from district 8. >> thank you, from president.

is michelle meow here? there she is, come on up. [cheers and applause] your reputation precedes you. born and raised in stockton, michelle moved to sanfrancisco to attend san francisco state university where she earned her ba in broadcast journalism. she is giving voice to the lgbtq community. froing up in stockton, michelle faced racism in her own neighborhood and told by classmates that she should go back to her own country. this experience inspired michelle's commitment to spread love, acceptance and inclusion through journalism. as the host and producer of her own weekly and tv show, she uses her platform to amplify race,

immigration, gender and lgbtq community. in late 2017, michelle joined forces with the commonwealth club to launch a weekly one-hour radio in front of a live audience featuring lgbtq thought leader and dedicated to social justice through an international lense. it features olympic figure skater adam lapong as well as local politicians. her show was among the first lgbtq specific programming. since 2006, michelle has been a cohost of the san francisco pride parade broadcast and from 2015 to 2018, michelle served as the president of the pride of directors, learning hom. michelle's tenure included the nation-wide arrival of marriage equality, leading a conversation about the safety in the

nightclub massacre and the finances. i describe her as a bad-ass and welcome her to the queer and pride communities. michelle, would you like to say a few words? [cheers and applause] >> this is a huge deal. when you do this kind of work, and it was born out of necessities, you don't look at it to be recognisedded but it is a resident.

man of us traumatized by systems of power and oppression, it can be scarry to tell your story and tell your truths, especially, when you don't have a platform for you to share those stories. for me, creating this over ten years ago, it really was out of discrimination. many corporations wouldn't want to hire someone like me who wanted to sta and up stand up td share what wily an we live and experience. i traded that through the experiences of being a daughter of a refugee, growing up poor and in poverty, growing up in a single-parent home and with all of these experiences in mind, i find when we are able to have a place, a platform to share our authentic voices, to have freedom of expression, that is

where we can create change and there is where there is a moment of compassion and vulnerability and through that hope and that exchange, of our difference and similarities, we hope that there is a common goal to all be better human beings. so thank you so much for this recognition. it means a whole big deal for me. at the commonwealth club, it's a 100 year institution, a san francisco iconic organization to come this far and to have those difficult conversations at the club and that's what it's all about. it's about the ability and the opportunity to change and be better human beings. i hope you'll join me may 24t may 24th. we're having a day of immigrant visibility. thank you again and wow! [ laughter ] >> thank you, michelle. [cheers and applause]

>> ok, thank you. next up is our supervisor from district 6, supervisor han earthquakes. >> i'm pleased to honor judy young of the mee vietnamese youh

center. she grew up a child of the tendloin and dedicated to serving her community. she is a laoshin-tia refugee who like the many around her had access to limited resources growing up. living in poverty, judy experienced first-hand the overcrowded housing, drug dealing and street violence that were daily norms in her neighborhood. (please stand by).

with that it's my pleasure to add to this list of well----ed awards the certificate and for all you've done and continue to do for our city. thank you. >> thank you, supervisor haney and the board of services for this award. -- supervisors for the award. the award without not be possible without my organization and the staff and board members behind me. some had to leave because they had to take care of our students after school but the staff are

the ones in the frontline that help make our organization what it is today and i'm fortunate to work with strong, passionate and motivated team members so i want to give them a round of applause for the work they do they wore every day to inspire our youth, families and community members in the tenderloin and help them reach the full potential. it's through their care we're successful in our mission. and i would like to thank my family and my husband and i told him about the award but we run a small restaurant so he's cooking in the kitchen and wishes he was here and my daughter is here.

this award is for my children and family. i do this for the future and for them to keep their and my legacy going. this award just inspires me to think about their temperature and make sure our community is represented. i want to share how i got involved. when i came to the u.s. in 1981 as a refugee from laos our family had no money, no home. we left all we had behind to start a new life. the first place i came home was in any apartment on turk and we were poor but i had my parents and brother and that kept me going and i also had bydc help

me to become a strong, determined woman helping our community overcome hardship and trauma. little is known about our southeast asian struggles. for 30 years i've been fighting for our community to thrive and to be successful. today we have mental health services, education support and employment support and housing to address the issue of gentrification and displacement. so i'm proud of the work that's done with bydc and i'm privileged to represent my community. on behalf of bydc and the board and my family, thank you for the recognition. [applause]

>> commissioner: next up will be the supervisor from district 5. supervisor brown. >> commissioner: thank you. this is really an honor for me. i'm thrilled to honor this person for asian pacific

heritage month. they have fully embraced a life of service. when not working as an occupational therapist specializing in treatment for stroke sir survivors she served in many capacity. when looking at her accomplishments one might conclude she's a lot older. at any given moment she's volunteering on a board and holding down a career and raising her 1-year-old daughter. with her husband and volunteerism, she brings japanese-american communities inside and outside the city. currently she's a board chair for a foundation which is an educational and charitable nonprofit dedicated keeping the

japanese american community connected, informed and empowered. it publishes a weekly newspaper and is the major educational resource for japanese americans and in 2003 and eight other colleagues found the new generation fund with the mission of building a new generation of flap -- flan philanthropist funding to hem support traditional and contemporary japanese art, community centers, cultural and heritage festivals, educational programs in san francisco, san josé, los angeles throughout the japanese american communities. very impressive. two of the largest events in the

japan town community are the street fair in the fall and cherry blossom festival to be celebrated in the arrival of spring. she is the ring leader and i have to tell you, i've been involved in this and she really is a ring leader in this fair. she actually organizes dozens of artists who perform and show their works at the fair and as an artist i can attest this is no small feat. three years ago, she was chosen by the community to co-chair the 50th annual cherry blossom festival. under her leadership the 50th festival was a success leading to her conditioning as co-chair for -- continuing as the co-chair the last two years. kio m kiomi your work is a shining example of what it is to give back to the community and your

dedication and advancement of japanese american culture in san francisco is to be admired. today it's my privilege to honor you. thank you. >> thank you for this honor. i'm humbled to accept this recognition. being born and raised in san francisco i was fortunate to have many opportunities to share and celebrate my japanese heritage and culture through various organizations and activities. whether through non-profit programming, community festivals and school or basketball or young professional activities there were so many pathways for young people to get involved. i was always surrounded by inspired leaders many of whom continue to mentor me in various roles i serve within the cherry

blossom festival and the foundation and street fair among others. it is through their example i realized just how important leadership and dedication is for the vitality of our community. my husband, ken, our sweet 1-year-old daughter and i proudly live in the western edition in a home built in 1899. when you consider how much has happened in that time, our house has survived the 1906 earthquake, world war 2 redevelopment. it's important to educate not just cherish our physical spaces and we cannot take anything for granted. the san francisco we know and love continues to change at a rapid pace and a feel now more than ever it is important that our communities stay strong and united so we can continue our cultural identities and

connection. while it is often very challenging to juggle my career, my family, being a wife, new mother, friend and my community service activities, i'm constantly reminded just how important it is for the work to get done. i'm extremely fortunate to have the unconditional support from my entire family especially my husband, my daughter, my mother, susan and my brother, my friends and to my incredible mentors some are here. to me japan town it the place my

daughter is going to grow up and i hope she'll love just as much as i do. it means so much to know our efforts to help continue and preserve our japanese american legacy and i look forward to ensure other communities and japan town will continue to thrive for future generations. i'm proud to represent japan town and the rest of district 5. thank you for this honor and congratulations to the other honorees.

>> commissioner: next up is district 3 supervisor peskin. >> commissioner: thank you, president yee, colleagues. my honoree is synonymous with an organization that we all know. an amazing organization that has many parts. we know it as the china town community development center but it's heart and soul is manifest in one person not it's executive director. not anyone person other than the

incredible cathy lam. we all call her cathy, she was born in hong kong, moved here to the city for high school and later received her b.a. across the bay from where i hail in berkeley. she is a natural born community organizer and has been a household name in china town for many many years. i've had the pleasure of knowing her and working with her on things big and small for the last 20 years. here is the incredible fact which is she joined ccdc after its founding in 1979. and is its longest serving staff member. and even after that 40 , and

yes, she took a five-year hiatus, after the 35 years and multiple mentions of retirement, cathy is still at it and the community is so much better off for it. we are honoring her here today because she refuses to be honored. she is selfless and humble. i know she doesn't want to be here but you can find traces of cath cathy's compluinfluences in eve project in north beach and knob hill and the tenderloin. when the embarcadero freeway was torn down, cathy was there. this is in the days of the earthquake 30 years ago and with a positive answer which was, the um -- implementation of the park and ride program to support

china town's family and when low-income families were under threat of eviction at 55 columbus she organized to fight for justice an later help the community reclaim that building as critical affordable housing by empowering the tenant to create the first co-op housing in china town's history. when there was a lack of transportation she served as the community's liaison for the central subway project. on art and culture she help organized the efforts to establish the community space many of us have had the pleasure of going to at 41 ross and continuously advocates to beautify china town's 31 alleys and was seminole in restarting that project years ago when she got me and then mayor newsom to

to collect the avenues. most recently the most monumental undertaking cathy was a part of, which i thought was impossible and would kill her but only made her stronger, was relocating 234 units of tenants living at china town's first and only public housing site during the two-year construction at the pings. and i'm delighted to say every single person who wanted to return, has returned. it was truly an amazing effort and you took care of each and every one of those people and that's why everybody in the community love cathy. she's famous or infamous for her boldness and directness that often induce fair initially but deep in the conversation you know her passion is driven heavily by her deep love and care for the community and the people she builds relationships

with. she always comes into meetings knowing not what she wants but always what the community needs and the community deserves. i could go on for a lot longer. but i just want to say when my office invited her to this event, cathy asked why we had to embarrass her by nominating her which speaks to herselflessness and altruism who always represent the community before herself. thank you, cathy. i want to point out the people who packed the chambers because they love you. >> first of all, i'm sorry i talk very long and i tried to make it short. first of all i have to thank whoever nominate me.

i'm just ccdc staff and just try to do my job best and every day i learn something new. especially lately working for the relocation was very tough. at times i wanted to give up but then i always said to myself, there's always a tomorrow. most important, try your best and if it's not the time, then try again. so i think that's my driving force but of course without the support of ccdc which i grew up without my professional i wouldn't be here today and i humbly accept the honor but i think there's lots more people who deserve it much more thdese.

i have one request we're vig -- trying to have help a family because they're in the list to be enrolled into a ping unit however the daughter has severe health situation and basically i don't understand medical terms but her spine cannot be erect so she's always bent about 100 degrees. it's very taxing for the family so we're trying to find some temporary housing for them. and we'll pay for the rent, don't worry, okay. but i would like anybody who knows somebody or you even own a unit you think you could spare for a year or so we would love to take that on and i have my business card so you can come to me and you can ask mr. peskin's office