we have a special treat today because mayor edwin lee will be handing out the awards. we also have supervisor mirkarimi and kim who will be helping to hand out the awards and flowers to the warriors. now i would like everyone to stand up and line up over here. as i call your name, please come on up. [applause] first, we have carlos hernandez, 16. he is a positive influence to those in his community who looked up to him and follow his steps towards success and greatness. [applause] if we could keep it to just a few photos, that would be great. next, we have -- a film maker of a media crew where she treats me that spreads awareness about important issues and encourages you to make change. she created a film around the oscar grant story and documented youth reaction to the case. [applause] sh andcheyyenne carson is improg conditions of youth who have parents and custody. [applause] denise castro, 17, is a college- bound ambassador at marshall elementary school where she helps students with their homework and students with after-school activities. she is an inspiring membe

i want to thank mayor edwin lee and his entire staff.bers of the board of supervisors, the apa official elected families. this is the first year with ask for a personal contribution to our celebration. i want to thank both of you. last, but not least, the celebration every year has included a lot of community efforts to spread the word that the month of may is apa heritage month, to put on the kind of public relations effor

i want to thank mayor edwin lee and his entire staff.bers of the board of supervisors, the apa official elected families. this is the first year with ask for a personal contribution to our celebration. i want to thank both of you. last, but not least, the celebration every year has included a lot of community efforts to spread the word that the month of may is apa heritage month, to put on the kind of public relations effort need to in the city and county of san francisco. we will have a reception in the green room afterwards. no contribution is too small, but i would like to take this opportunity to invite our major sponsors up here as we do have an appreciation gift for you. to start our work, i would like to invite are presenting sponsor. this is the first year we have up presenting sponsor. we would like to invite president david t [applause] >> just very briefly, on behalf of target, just very privileged to be part of this. it is a new day and it's an exciting day. never before have we celebrated asian pacific heritage month and the

his name is ediwn lee -- edwin lee. he is here with you not for being good looking but for his good action toward you. i like this man for his courage. also, i like him because he is discussing with you how we can work together, president and supervisors, to solve the problems we have in san francisco. our lady and gentlemen -- he has the courage to be with us three times, not only today. i also have the courage as an egyptian with stopping him outside to ask him when he is going to run for mayor. he is smart. he gives me a good smile and laughs. but he does not give me the answer yet. guess what? i am going to be the problem- maker for him. i will follow him every place he goes and will tell him until i see his name coming. we have 37 people running for the city. some of them are yours. some of them are outside, who never know anything about them. but i know something about edwin lee, the man with courage. he is not afraid of you. you are not afraid of him. but we have to work together to resolve the problem. that is t

we are also honored to have with us this morning mayor edwin lee to kick off the celebration. [applause] mayor lee: good morning. i know the sun is not out, but we can still be awake. i want to thank all of you for coming today on this reopening, and i want to let you know that you're so excited to join board president david chiu, who was a cable car writer -- rider from the first day he arrived, and also the departments that worked so closely with nat ford and the whole team, in doing not only this project, but it has been 27 years since there has been a major overhaul of our cable car system. with nat's leadership along with carter's and sfmta, we want to make sure that the system -- if we invite people to ride halfway to the stars, it better be safe. we want to make sure that it gets a renewal in its brackets and sloths -- slots. you will hear about these details as you talk with cable car operators. i want to thank them for their patience. they are a wonderful group of people, dedicated to something that is part of our $8 billion tourism -- a very key part. soon, you will s

[applause] >> the motion for edwin lee passes. [applause] >> you are talking to one of the happiest people in san francisco. this was an extraordinary an historic vote. but it was symbolic. remember, the new board of supervisors who convenes tomorrow will make the actual decision on who the next mayor will be. >> everybody came down to ed lee with the expectation that it will be done in the most intellectually honest way and in a way that role and order is respected. i think we discussed a few nominations and came down to this one by a common denominator. >> i had a sense of urgency because i did not want to see anyone being acting mayor in the presence of the board of supervisors. that is not the kind of transition i talked about. we need to have a transition -- legislative branch separate from the executive branch of san francisco. that is the best way to do our work. people would not like the situation of having an acting mayor and president of the board of supervisors. >> now the dominoes in this chain of political events were

first of all, i wish to express my heartfelt thanks to mayor edwin lee. i know you are very busy. you are the busiest man in the city, in the bay area. you just passed a budget, but you also made a new agenda. thank you for making your time free to help in this event. 40 years ago, i was a middle school student. the dramatic counter of the two young table tennis players from china and america surprised me and shocked the world. thanks to the vision of older generation leaders of our two countries, the small ball moved the big ball, and this event and the later on coming efforts paved the way to the rapid development of china-u.s. relationship, and changed the world completely. after decades of concerted efforts, the relation between china and america has developed into one of the most important dynamic and promising bilateral relations in the world, which benefits tremendously not only our two nations, the world as a whole. to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ping-pong diplomacy, there will be several events in the coming days. i think myself that these events are magnificent

between city departments, the private sector, and this is the epitome of the kind of partnership that edwin lee is bringing to the city. it is my pleasure to introduce to you mayor ed lee. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. welcome to union square. one of my favorite places. you may know this, but two- thirds of our annual visitors make their way down here to union square. that is why 10% of our annual sales tax revenue comes from right here. people love coming here, and why not? why not link the historic cable car stop on market street, and make the experience of making up here -- making it up here and the rest of the city and experience. one of the things that i love is we get to collaborate between our planning department, mta, department of public works, working with the private sector. working with some fantastic designers, like walter, and his fantastic design studio. and gaining the confidence of the people who protect this gem of the city, the business improvement district in union square. i want to thank everyone for coming together and blessing, with the contribution from audi of

it really is my pleasure to introduce to you the great mayor of san francisco, edwin lee. [applause] mayor lee: everybody, thank you very much for coming out to the artery of arteries in san francisco. i want to also acknowledge the wonderful work that the arts foundation is doing. they were the first agency that we were able to fund back when i was city administrator, when we were thinking, how could we start changing the street? we had that old theater that was and did already, but it still look like a porn theater. we were all reminded of how vibrant arts was. we started looking at the site, and they were looking at it, and we finally were able to give a little grant called the community challenge grant, and we emphasize the word challenge. the gray arts foundation took up that challenge, and now they are expanding, and now we have fantastic murals open tonight, and they were the first, but they led the effort after the arts commission and grants of the arts went to work along with the mayor's office. i know north dakota is there, and she is working very hard because non