i want to stand and commend you for taking the stance for dr. brown. if you want to know history, you must know dr. brown. to commend you from moving forward, i think the contribution is the greatest contribution african-americans can be proud of. ize our true hero. i'm happy we can applause and salute her for her efforts to our children all the generations can see her contribution. thank you for saluting her upcoming birthday as well. jo thank you. >> good evening. >> i didn't get a carted either. my name is chris daniels. i'm representing my husband at his request. he is the naacp director for california. as educators, you are very well aware of the attention to doe tails. there's a difference that that can make. a name is not a small matter. it is everything. it's where you go every had r day, what you are a part of, a reference of pride. in honor, this is an easy one. it is an honor to one of san francisco's finest citizens. right now, you have a power to send a powerful message. that's it. thank you. >> welcome reverend brown. >> madam president a

before we start with our commendations around women's history month, supervisor elsbernd has a commendationwould like to offer. supervisor elsbernd: thank you for your indulgence. i know we have a number of accommodations, but this week is a very special week for those of us in the irish community. as you know, a little over a week ago, we raised the flag outside the building. this past saturday, we celebrated with the st. patrick's parade. this thursday, of course, is st. patrick's day. this year in san francisco, we have been graced with the presence of wild swan theater company, which comes to us from county galway on the west coast of ireland. great to have you all here. a little bit about them -- we have 20 members of the theater group with us, came all the way out to not just perform, but really, to spend a week in san francisco celebrating with the san francisco irish-american community. i was able to meet some of them over the past week. commissioner mccarty hosted a number of bus at his home for a great party. tonight is really the culmination of their trip. there is a sold-out per

we do have one special commendation at 3:30. i will probably interrupt public, in about two speakers or sell. -- two speakers or so. >> our president, our supervisor, i see something wrong today. six of our supervisors use glasses. supervisor chiu: i think we are all waiting gemini eir -- reading too many eir's. >> [speaking foreign language] ladies and gentlemen, i am here today to thank the man who saved my life. i would like to tell you, it is very proud to be one of his vision. he has saved many other people's lives as well. i would like to invite them to go to egypt. i would like to establish a clinic under my granddaughter's name. she has only one heart. i have eight-time heart attacks. i would like to thank god for that. but the reason i would like to go back to my country, because i like to have your support to establish the clinic foundation, to help the poor people there back home for the heart disease we have. ladies and gentlemen, i introduced this for them to accept my invitation to go to egypt, and i believe they w

that concludes our 3:30 commendations. if we could go back to the unfinished business. >> item 17 is an ordinance ordering the vacation of portions of the public right of way within the transit center project area. wiener aye. avalos aye. campos aye. chiu aye. chu aye. cohen aye. elsbernd aye. farrell aye. kim aye. mar aye. mirkarimi aye. there are 11 ayes. supervisor chiu: this ordinance is finally passed. >> item 18, ordinance amendment the san francisco transportation code and police codes amending parking lots. supervisor chiu: can we take this same house, same call? without objection, the ordinance is passed. >> item 19, ordinance amending the san francisco administrative code to establish a process for the mayor to a peer of the board of supervisors for a question and answer session. supervisor avalos: thank you for continuance on this item. i did have concerns about the spontaneity of our exchanges we have had with the mayor under this ordinance. i still have those concerns, but my conversation with mayor lee, i sai

i commend you. the only follow-up question i have is foot patrols in the mission. what is the status of that in this -- of that and is that being impacted? >> despite staffing challenges, we have a permit foot beat in the valley, we have a permit they watch and castro, and a night watch in the caster. we have a bay watch foot beat on 24th street and evening foot beat on 24th street. we havean 11:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. between 24th and 16th, and we have baby at least as often as we can -- and we have a beat that we staff as often as we can. commissioner hammer: are those teams, especially in the tougher areas, around mission, although sometimes staffed by one officer? >> the only one we have is the noah valley beat which is 11:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., and the day watch castro beat as well. commissioner hammer: we heard about an assault on a officer working on his own. >> that was officer friedman. commissioner hammer: who was badly hurt, it could have been killed. it has caused concern, countering gang members by himself. what is the policy? >> that incident prompt

and commend you for that. i commend you for that, sheriff hennessy. if it was like that elsewhere, we would see it like that elsewhere and we know it is not. you know it is not because you don't hear about it and you hear about it all throughout the state and across this country, but you do not, the fact that this gentleman does that and it makes the difference in lives, not just lives over the folks that are with him, but actually our lives too because they come back to the community as educated people. ready to engage in life on a different path. and again, i cannot begin to thank you for making certain that that is embedded in the sheriff's department here in san francisco. thank you for the tour and i knew already that that was -- that it is not all the day elsewhere. i knew that already. i absolutely believe that your philosophy and needs to be spread. i'm grateful that he goes elsewhere because people request him to come and talk about his program. i'm glad that we here at san francisco partner with the sheriff's department. i'm -- just hearing

i want to commend senator leahy. he has gone the extra mile for this bill for many years, and i'm proud and glad that he is seeing his work come to fruition as we finally debate the bill on the floor and passage of the bill is in sight. i also want to commend the ranking member of the judiciary committee, senator grassley, who worked with him, as well as senator kyl who has taken a leading role on the republican side for their hard work in crafting a bill that effectively modernizes the patent system while paying attention to the many and varied demands that different sectors of the economy exert upon it. i'm particularly pleased that the chairman has decided to adopt the schumer-kyl amendment on business method patents into the managers' amendment. it's a critical change that this bill finally begins to address the scourge of business method patents that's currently plaguing the financial sector. business method patents are anathema to the protection that the patent system provides because they apply not to novel pr

we do have one special commendation at 3:30. i will probably interrupt public, in about two speakers or sell. -- two speakers or so. >> our president, our supervisor, i see something wrong today. six of our supervisors use glasses. supervisor chiu: i think we are all waiting gemini eir -- reading too many

the audit report, and i commend your boss' testimony a year or so later. i think it aired a lot of dirty linen that needed to be aired. but when we say usaid's decision making progress for suspension debarment, debarment actions contains flaws and constraints that prevent it from operating effectively, to me, that is senior management. and my question to you, very quickly, is aid's leadership and others have now said we're going to fix this problem, don't worry about it. you're st

i commend you for your passion, courage, and dedication.y few people could have demonstrated the level of conviction you showed at the young age of 15. young people today view you as a role model and as an important figure in the history of the civil rights movement. as united states senator representing the people of california, i commend your outstanding service to this country. i wish you good health and happiness in the years to come. sincerely yours, diane feinstein, united states senator -- dianne feinstein, united states senator." [applause] >> i don't know what to say. i'm so overwhelmed. it really feels good to get some recognition from the politicians and top politicians. i'm glad that i lived to see this day. [applause] and i want to thank all who have made this day possible, including all the people at the library that put this event together. thank you very much. [applause] >> now, i would like to introduce the driving force behind this program, and award- winning, internationally known storyteller, recording artist, and educat

ross mirkarimi had a certificate of commendation that we will present to the sponsors. in recognition of the mary helen rogers senior community groundbreaking in the western addition forhonoring one of the hardest working community advocates that fought for one of the most vulnerable advocates in san francisco to ensure economic equality for all. the board of supervisors extends its highest commendation. [applause] >> thank you. hang on. we want to present it to the family a little later. is rev. boyd or reverend walker here? i can see rev. pounds in here. million not join me in welcoming another champion for san francisco? they are on the redevelopment commission. for how long? 32 years. commissioner lee roy king. >> i have been listening. long before any of you were born, before you were around, mary rodgers came from europe and traveled throughout the world. she came here and got this housing, this school here, got this school moving. the big school over there on the park, she got that fixed. my sister-in-law made sure. teachers were teaching the kids. mary rodgers w

i wanted to commend them because they make and extending -- an outstanding effort to support sbe. for the federal fiscal year so far, dbe goal is 18%. we have awarded 14%. sbe's, we have awarded 35%. our quarterly investment report. in this low interest environment, we have a earnings credit bank accounts, so we do not pay fees or earn interest. so our interest earnings are on our unrestricted cash account. the fourth report is expenditures and revenues for the life of the program to date. the only other financial items that i want to note is on your consent calendar, we have our auditor's contract. assuming it is approved, we will be working with them to start interim audit field work. director ford: i was mentioning to director co-head -- cohen -- we are dealing with the issue of the new local hiring initiative. we have been spending quite a bit of time meeting with the mayor, supervisor avalos. at the next board meeting, could we have discretion on that? our projects are similar to central subway, dollars, policies that are not in court mission right now with our local hiring o

mayor lee will be commending annie in a much longer and greater detail so i will just leave it at the fact that today in honor -- in honor of 201 1 women's history month, the mayor is proud to recognize, today march 15, 2011 as annie chung day in san francisco. congratulations. [applause] >> thank you so much, david. president chiu, thank you so much, jason and president chiu and supervisors. i really take this opportunity to thank all of you especially emily, board president on the commission of family and friends for bestowing this honor of all of the honorees today. i take this honor in recognition for the self help for the elderly a agency that i've been at for 35 years. i didn't think i would stay that long. while things are happening, time just runs away. my friends look at me and ask -- you're still at self help for the elderly? yes. my life work is with the seniors, i have to say. i've worked with youth. i've worked with families. but somehow when i talk to the seniors, even though funding for the program seem bleak but yet they always give me such encouragement and such motiv