supervisor kim: we do have ann lazarus with us today. you have already been before this committee. you were nominated to the port commission. if you could briefly introduce yourself to the rules committee and talk a little bit about some of the work you have to do on the board of appeals. >> thank you. i appreciate you having me here this afternoon. i do want to make it clear that i have never lived anywhere else or voted anywhere else. i have had the privilege of serving on the city's port commission for the last eight years. i am honored and awed to a been offered another opportunity to continue to serve my native city. i am very much looking forward to moving on to the board of appeals. while i could speak about some of the issues before the porch and the city, i cannot do so about issues that might be coming to the board of appeals. instead, i will make a few statements about how i plan to approach my service on that commission if you decide to recommend them. i will tell you that i plan to do my homework. i know that these are very serious matters, they are considered quasi-ju

lazarus. i look forward to working with you. commissioner hillis will be joining us in just a minute. i am the board's executive director. we're joined this evening by representatives from departments that have cases before us. i expect to be joined shortly by the manager of the department of public works. if you could please go over the meeting guidelines and conduct the swearing in process. >> the board request that you turn off all cell phones and pagers. please carry on conversations in the hallway. the rules of presentation are as follows. appellants, permit holders, and department representatives have seven minutes to present their cases and three minutes for rare bottle. people affiliated must include their comments within the -- three minutes before rebuttal. members of the public have up to three minutes to address the board, but no rebuttal. members of the public who wish to speak on an item are asked, but not required, to submit a speaker cards when you come up to the podium. speaker cards are available on the left side of the podium. the board welcomes your comments and su

poet emma lazarus who composed the famous poem "the new colossus that graces the statue of liberty" and has been indelibly linked with it for over 100 years at this point. and ed has worked with us on this exhibition that is on display through the end of 2012 and the lazarus poet of exiles, and i'm very pleased that he's here to share many of the insights into the meaning and history of the statue so welcome, ed. >> thank you. >> so one of the reasons we decided to do next business when we did is that this is a big anniversary year for the statue of celebrity. we're into the year of 125 years past the dedication of the statue, so new york has been celebrating. it's been a natural time of reflection, a perfect time for your book to come out, and i think very few people really know though where the idea came from for the statue, and so give us some insight into -- into how it came into being. >> so the statue of liberty came into being in france in the middle of the 19th century. it was actually 1865 right after the assassination of abraham lincoln, and the group of french people who were behind the idea were emotionally tied to the united states. they loved the american form of g