we have a special treat today because mayor edwin lee will be handing out the awards.e 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 member

edwin m. lee, the mayor of san francisco. [applause] mayor lee: thank you.nk you for that wonderful introduction and thank you for being here. it is the seventh annual celebration. sydney already explained our history, what president carter did for us, and what we are doing for ourselves, joining the whole city and region in celebrating asian-pacific portage month. i am so grateful to the board of supervisors for this whole four months of leaving this great city. i will say once again as i have said through many corners of the city, whether it is a town hall meeting or just your regular family association dinner, the hundreds i have been too -- i really feel proud of our asian community as a whole for allowing me to serve this great city and for all the years of struggle and coordinating and push to keep the doors of government open and to keep opportunities for many generations of asians to serve this wonderful city. thank you. i continue to thank the board of supervisors for this historic vote that happened in january. saying that, i want to kick off the c

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

i would like to present a dragon to my elder brother, edwin lee, the mayor. i am a younger dragon. [applause] mayor lee: thank you very much. thank you. >> thank you, mayor. thank you, counsel general. the board of supervisors reflects the increasing dominance of asian americans in government and politics. the sleeping dragon has awoken with four asian-american members of the board of supervisors, and the first asian american to serve as its president. please welcome president chiu, carmen chu, supervisor kim, and eric mar. president chiu: i wish you could see yourselves as we see you. we are chinese, japanese, and caribbean. we are south easton, southeast asian, and filipino. i want to thank the leaders in our community who are here with us tonight, leaders of our benevolent associations, our business associations, and our commissioners. we cannot do what we do in city hall without all of you. we know we have come a long way. it was not long ago that chinese americans were excluded under our city laws. when japanese americans were interned. when filipino tenants were evicted from

edwin lee. -- god, we come to you in prayer.s he renews his commitment to serve as our mayor, we ask you renewal his zeal for public service. grant him good health. give him the gift of patients, care for all people, but above all, the gift of wisdom here that surround his occupation with men and women dedicated to public service. fill him with your love so that he is not afraid. for as the scripture says, but perfect love cast out of fear. finally, we pray for ourselves as citizens of the city we love it. drive from us and our elected officials all cynicism and slavish ideology. in your mercy grant us just and honest, rep. all men. -- and honest government. -- amen. >> please welcome the color guard in the san francisco girls chorus. -- and the san francisco girls chorus. where are they? [laughter] [laughter] [applause] >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america. and into the republic, for which it stands, one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. ♪ [chorus singing] [chorus singi

may i also ask you to welcome the honorable mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> well, welcome.o city hall, everyone. it is my pleasure to welcome all of you here to the seventh annual philippine-american celebration heritage month. counsel general, thank you. mayer brown, thank you very much. i know you are out there somewhere. board president, thank you for being here as well. i am is so happy, because we have a lot of things to celebrate. and i want to first and foremost thank one of the people that i have had a chance to work with, and i think she is a proud member of the filipino-american community here in san francisco, and that has been my chief adviser on families, children, education, and of course she is the president of our school board. hydra mendoza, thank you. thank you for being here. [applause] you know, as we celebrate filipino history month, we recognize the filipino history that is inextricably a part of our city's history. and during the historic struggle that we kept seniors -- remember those years where we stood on an alliance to protect our senior residenc

now i have the pleasure of introducing our wonderful mayor, mayor edwin lee, who will be giving us a few words. [applause] >> thank you. welcome to city hall, your city hall. i wanted to make sure -- i know supervisor mirkarimi is here. supervisor jane kim is also here. they are both here because i know both have a strong commitment to our youth in san francisco. i want to welcome all of you here tonight for two reasons. one, i know we are going to give some awards out for our youth leaders, but the other reason i wanted to make sure you had a good invitation to come to city hall tonight was because we have been waiting for one of you to register, wondering if you are going to run for mayor or not. there is a vacant seat for youth to lead the city. i think you can take this job and run with it. this city needs to be more kid- friendly, more youth-oriented. i think you could have a big input to make sure that what we are doing will be there for you to raise families as well. i want to congratulate all the nominees tonight. all of you who have been participating in this competition for

the honorable edwin lee. [applause] ç>> thank you.ayor willie brown, i will remind him it was fema. [laughter] we will have to name a doorway in addition to the staircase. thank you, everyone, for coming to san francisco. it is a pleasure to receive new and open up our house and to have you discuss, plan, and create relationships perhaps you do not have today among the federal and local police -- agencies working together on recovery. our city has been working hard. we have seen the future. the future is that if we're not prepared, it will not be our future. i got a glimpse of that some years ago when staff and i went down to new orleans. we have begun to realize the devastation was the result of things that could have been done there are national lessons to be learned from any major disaster across our country, what we could have done better. when i visited there those years ago, we stood at the night éovardç -- at the ninthç ward. in addition to taking pictures, we just stood there for a couple of moments. we asked ourselves, is t

i, edwin lee, do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states constitution of the state of california against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that i will bear true faith and allegiance to the constitution of the united states and the constitution of the state of california. that i take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation, or purpose of evasion, and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties, upon which i am about to enter during such time as they hold office of mayor for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations, mr. mayor. [applause] >> now ladies and gentlemen, the 43rd mayor of the city and county of for samsung could sann lee. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. and thank you. thank you very much. please, thank you. thank you. good morning. weren't those lovely performances from our own symphony? let's give them a big hand. and [applause] 8 and to the incomparable, charlotte mirer shultz after whom this very staircase is dedicated. thank you for another wonderful cel

i am pleased to introduce the honorable edwin lee, the first asian-american mayor in san francisco history. he was appointed unanimously as the successor mayor by the board of supervisors in 2011 to fill the remaining term of mayor news who was sworn in a s lieutenant governor. mayor lee won the election and will serve a full term as mayor. prior to his employment with the city and county of san francisco, he was the managing attorney for the san francisco asian law caucus. he worked there from 1979 to 1989. he was born in seattle. he was born in a previous year of the dragon. he is a summa cum laude graduate of bowdoin college and san francisco school of law. please help me welcome san francisco's mayor. [applause] >> thank you. happy new year. [applause] it is my delight to be here. i want to add my thanks to the u.s. postal service. i look forward to this every year to see the postal officials delivered the artistic beauty of these stamps. this is the fifth stamp set the we have enjoy. thank you for being here. i really enjoy the camaraderie of everybody on the stage. he represents a mu

i bring to you mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> good afternoon. welcome. thank you very much for the introduction. i have a lot to be happy about this day because it is the 100th anniversary celebrating international women's day, and to tell you we have quite a bit to celebrate. we have probably the highest number of women commissioners ever in the history of the city today. isn't that wonderful? [applause] we have clearly a good and growing balance of women, on the board of supervisors, commissioners, and department heads as well. i'm extremely proud to be heading up this very complicated city. [laughter] one that does not let me sleep very much, but certainly it -- i have said this in many cases, just literally these eight weeks i have fallen in love with this city even deeper because it is such a wonderful place to be. every community i visit, every corridor that we walk together, it fascinates me house on many other people who live and work here -- but even those who don't -- just love this city and they do what they can to make sure that it is running

symphony and our chief of protocol, charlotte schulz, here on stage in welcoming our host, mayor edwin m. lee and first lady anita lee, and the man of the our, our special guest, mr. tony bennett. [applause] -- the man of the our -- the man of the hour, our special guest, mr. tony bennett. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] that is the way you make an entrance, right? [applause] well, mayor lee, mrs. lee, and honored guests, for 50 years, the sounds of tony bennett and his rendition of "i left my heart in san francisco" has said to the world that this city by the bay is the capital of love, beauty, and a unique style that made it one of the plan its tourist destinations. mr. bennett, your voice is the voice of san francisco, and this is your day. [applause] we have a fantastic program for you today. we have some local singers inspired by mr. bennett's career, and they will pay tribute to mr. bennett in song. tony bennett, your dedication to young people is known through countless projects such as your exploring the arts foundation and your founding of the frank sinatra school for the

without any further ado, the mayor of san for cisco, -- san francisco, edwin lee. >> i had a chance to preview this as well. the one that touches me is, i am a san francisco police officer. i am there for you and i will help you. it will get better. those are the ones that stand out. masterfully placed in this video by some of those who just started appreciating and led by the chief and commander, having the officers really unveil their own personal stories. it is, for me, a moment of being proud of our department and everybody in it. it is hard for people to come out and say where they have been. but this police department, with this video, how it is put together, is now joining a worldwide campaign. a campaign that we have been forced to acknowledge. it has to be done because of the numbers of stories that we have heard across the country. in cities like ours. bullying, harassment, discrimination have caused young teenagers to consider the worst of life at their age. that isolation and loneliness that accompanies that, the have not been heard by adults and people and had not seen par

because this gentleman deserves that, but it is an honor and a privilege to invite our honored guest, edwin lee, the mayor of san francisco. [applause] >> thank you, carlos. and i did not get pushed to come here. i ran to come here. and iran to come here because i am so enthusiastic. we have a lot of things to work on and celebrate. how many of you are dreamers? this week we got something really big to celebrate. the california dream act was signed by the governor. what about wonderful? [applause] in my previous life, and you know this as a fact, i used to be a civil rights attorney before i started working in government, and it means so much, especially now since carlos and i are from is burt -- immigrant families, and now we have to be leaders of immigrant families to seek good legislation and promises that really start filling the challenges of our youth. not to be able to fill the stream all over the country is the incredible challenge we have before us. we made a great statement in the state of california. i want to make sure we build on that. that is why i came here today. i rushed to mak