and i want to thank those of you who are not asian on the outside but our asian on the inside. [applause] thank you for being part of the richness of who we are common here in san francisco. and i want to thank all of you who are the community leaders of this wonderful city that was founded as col down. we know we have had struggles over the decades and have accomplished many things. but i want to take a moment to say a quick thanks to those of you who are working to make sure that our asian american brothers and sisters, and grandparents who are still living in sro's, i want to thank you for the work you are doing for them. the work we are doing for asian- american brothers and sisters who still today may not have health insurance or child care. for young people who may not have access to the youth services they need. or to our grandparents who may not have access to the prescription drugs or senior services that they need. we have come a long way but we have a long way to go. i just want to thank you in this year of 2011 are coming together as a community for the work we have

as asian-americans in this country. as we look toward the new year, i think we can say that the asian-american community has come far in san francisco since we first started immigrating here in the 1950's, and there were many challenges for our community, beginning with the first exclusion act, immigration and for men and women that came for san francisco, to labor issues, and also segregation that we faced. and that was then brought forward as a court case to look at what it means to be equal but separate in our public schools. there is much work we have done here, and now we see we have our first asian-american mayor, the first time we have seen four asian american sitting on the board of supervisors. it is certainly an honor and privilege for me to be here today. i want to recognize the history not only of our communities, but of many communities that have fought for us to be here today. again, happy new year. thank you for being here and joining in on the celebration. [applause] >> thank you, supervisors. assessor p

mayor of oakland, the first asian mayor of oakland, and the first asian- american woman elected as mayor of any major city in the united states. she and ed lee, the first asian american mayor of san francisco, make a rare and great hair. their selection indicates progress. slow progress, but progress nonetheless. our mayor is a woman of many firsts. she was the first asian-american woman elected to the open school board and the first to the oakland city council. but always first are the people that she serves. a 32-year oakland resident, she has dedicated her life to making government work for people. her experience and inspiration came from the civil and human rights struggles of the 1960's, as did ed lee's, my own, and their number of people in this room. personal history is important. her history, determination to deal with the complex histories in the world give us a lot of hope for the struggles facing our city. her soft-spoken manner, her campaign style, her work ethic, her focus and ability to connect with everyday citizens, plus, her truly amazing energy. she is everywhere and al

i am lisa ahng, the liaison of mayor li's to the asian-american community. i want to preface this part by siam only 1/8 chinese, so there is only a 12.5% chance this will go as it should. [speaking chinese] to start up the night, we have the chair of the treasure island board of directors and chairman of the asian american pacific celebration committee c laudine chang. [applause] >> good evening, everyone. thank you so much for celebrating -- joining us on this joyous occasion. welcoming and celebrating lunar new year. i am delighted to be your mistress of ceremonies this evening. this year, the chinese new year started on thursday, february 3. lunar new year, 4709, symbolized by the year of the hare. we all know it as a chinese new year but lunar new year was actually celebrated by many ethnic groups within the asian american pacific families, including vietnamese-americans, caribbean-americans, and others. in san francisco, we celebrated with our parade. -- korean-americans, and others. we celebrated the whole month to welcome everybody. it is supposed to

i am a staff attorney at the asian law caucus. he must be familiar with the asian law caucus. our mayor was an alum. since 9/11, we have seen a rise in hate crimes against muslim americans and those perceived to be muslim but what receives less attention is the fact these acts of violence find their support in institutionalized discrimination. discrimination that is a direct result of misdirected government policy. i am not a criminal defense attorney, i'm a civil rights attorney. i represent dozens of people in the law enforcement context, people who have not committed any crime, but people have been discriminated by law enforcement. i want to contextualize some of the recommendations in the report so you can understand where this is coming from. in the airport context, i have dozens upon dozens of clients to face discrimination at the airport. these are innocent americans who repeatedly are pulled aside when re-entering the country after visiting their families or doing business abroad. in addition to being asked personal questions about their religious identities, their pol

time we have seen four asian american sitting on the board of supervisors. it is certainly an honor and privilege for me to be here today. i want to recognize the history not only of our communities, but of many communities that have fought for us to be here today. again, happy new year. thank you for being here and joining in on the celebration. [applause] >> thank you, supervisors. assessor phil ting plays a crucial role in our city. his office is responsible for calling on all of us to pay our property taxes. maybe not so popular, but we like him. [laughter] his office makes sure that the revenue is here for the city budget. without further ado, please welcome city assessor phil ting. >> thank you. i am usually not popular with everyone else, but with other city officials, i am very popular. come budget time, they come calling. welcome to city hall. happy new year, everybody. it is an honor to see all of you here. it is a reminder for all of us as public servants that we are here to serve you. the day we opened city hall to all of you -- it is quite an ho

i have known her in the context of the asian american bar association. she was the co-chair of the search committee. at the time i met her, i was working alongside her in chinatown, pulling weeds and painting buildings and removing graffiti. i have the highest regard for her in terms of her dedication to the community. the chinatown community development center work helps mentor high school students, which was a wonderful activity for lawyers to get involved with, high-school students, talking to them about their futures, in the same vein as a law professor. she and her form -- she and her firm support diversity in education, they hold interviewing clinics. i support diversity in the legal profession and improving our profession, and she has had a great commitment to that. i think she is smart, hard- working, thoughtful, and analytical, and i support her application to the ethics commission. thank you very much for your time. >> good afternoon. my name is patrick. i have been a resident of san francisco 20 years, here to support the recommendation of dor

this is also an historic day for the asian-american community. for a community that has been here in san francisco for over 160 years, i am a product of that community. i know that ed and all of us who are of asian-american descent feel the legacy. and i want to thank all of you who have been part of this historic moment to make this happen. and say that this is obviously not just about a chinese american community or an asian-american community. this is about the american dream. the idea that anyone from any background of any color from any part of the globe can come here and someday be at the very top of what our community is about. [applause] in closing, i also want to just say that this is an historic moment because we have overseen the orderly transition of leadership. what we have done at the board here at city hall is what separates a democratic society from less democratic ones. free communities from less free ones. we have overseen a truly orderly and wonderful transition of leadership from our lieutenant governor, gavin newsom, to our n