so you know that i was out here a couple months ago with a supervisor at malia cohen, who is here today. thank you for welcoming us to your district. malia and i have been focused on its third street continuously. we're not going to give up. there's no reason to give up. there is investment in people to be had here. wonderful people who live here want mendell plaza to be more successful, the bayview opera house. we open up a couple other storefronts along third street. we're going to continue doing that with the personal investments that people are making on housing. i want to continue thanking the former commissioners of our redevelopment agency. leroy king is here today. along with commissioner dar. thank you. [applause] i want to thank the bayview merchants association. thank you for constantly working with us here and making sure we do the right thing and communicate with all the people and not let go. i want to thank our police department. the captain is here. he is working with everybody thank you for being here. [applause] askinder is very worldly. he knows what is happening in o

next, i would like to invite up supervisor malia cohen. [applause] >> good morning. i think today is another example, as was yesterday, of the physical manifestation of what happens when thoughtful people and thoughtful leaders come together. i like to publicly to thank the portola neighborhood steering committee. thank you for your leadership and commitment to san francisco and to this little cove that recall the portola. my home. i was raised here. my parents still live here. this corridor means a lot to me personally. it is a very committed to continue to support the merchant corridor, as low as the neighbors, and continue to improve our efforts to beef up and maintain the safety as the number-one priority here on the margin corridor. thank you to our community leaders. [applause] >> , thank you, supervisor. next, i would like to introduce reporter wrote rivera's to speak on behalf of the portola neighborhood steering committee -- i would like to introduce roberta ribble -- roberto ramirez. >> good morning. we recently went through and name change. we're not the p

from supervisor malia cohen, karen roy, and lindon. i have found my place here and i have mentioned, i began my career here in 1996 with mayer brown. i realized then in my 20's that i needed to pursue higher education. and it helped the mayor said he would never give me a raise or promotion on till i went back to school. i enrolled in the university of san francisco law school. i got my j.d. and pass the bar. -- passed the gar. -- bar. [applause] san francisco has been my home. six years ago i was married here on the steps almost six years ago to this month. [applause] some are clapping, some are not. [laughter] it has been a fundamental time for my family and i having been nominated. by mayor ed lee and i am grateful to that community and i am grateful to the mayor and the board of supervisors who are considering this nomination. i vow to do the best job i possibly can for the city and i have -- as i have done from the outset of my city career. i will continue to draw inspiration and guidance from the black woman in our history and cu

with me is supervisor malia cohen and scott wiener. our clerk is alisa somera. clerk miller: -- supervisor mar: we have three items. could we move item number three to the beginning? with no objection? could you please read item number three? clerk miller: item number three, creating a new definition of student housing. supervisor mar: supervisor wiener? supervisor wiener: thank you. today on the agenda, we have legislation creating a definition of housing, where none existed before, and clarifying and creating some rules, so we are creating additional housing and converting it to student housing. i am going to be offering some amendments to this legislation. we were not able to get them reduced to writing by today, so i would like to continue to march 26. that would also give us some time to back into the discussions, because i know there are some folks in recent days that have expressed some views, so i've afford to hearing from people who would like to discuss the legislation. please feel free. colleagues, we do have several from the planning department here.

i would also like to acknowledge members of the official family, supervisor malia cohen, supervisor, fifth district, supervisor chu, supervisor olague, and supervisor weiner. i am going to miss some people. we have port commissioner kim brandon with us today. [applause] and a host of others. i am sure i will get the names as they come up. i would like to thank you for being here, and welcome. we are going to start the program with an indication by reverend carolyn dyson. reverend dyson, who is going to do the indication for us, also has the signal honor of being the first woman ordained in the baptist church in the city and county of san francisco, back in 1982. join me in welcoming rev. dyson, please. [applause] >> good afternoon, everybody. an indication. we come as a community today, calling for the validation and good things on this occasion, in celebration of black history. we have gathered at this moment in time so that historical truths would be this month pepys celebration foundation, as the city once again owners the contributions of african- americans. let the scribe's reco

supervisor malia cohen, ladies and gentlemen. >> thank you. hello.. how are you good. thank you for coming out here this morning. i'm so excited to be here. there have been many years that have come and gone in the past that i was in these seats over here listening to the speakers commemorate, honor the memory and legacy of many of our an set of erps and the persons that have gone on before us and it is about time that we started to think about the legacy that african-americans have had and the legacy that the civil war has had and the intermingling between the two because it is with no easy feat that over 200,000 african-american soldiers fought in the civil war during a time when african-americans were denied the right of course their citizenship. can you imagine that? so i'm very excited to welcome you here to our great city hall. and as i stand before you, i want you to understand that i am your represent and if you have a chance to stop by before you leave and leave your contact information, so we are able to better communicate and keep the line

you have supervisors like malia cohen who are no longer worried. they know we are working together.e worried about are the people's negative attitudes, which should not creep in. we are confident with the merchants in the city. we are going to continue discounthis positive outlook ane will continue to do it with neighborhoods, to make sure there is job creation and economic opportunity for everybody. thank you for being with us today. i look forward to an intriguing menu here starting with eskender. thank you for your leadership here. [applause] >> he cannot talk get. he is at the very end. [laughter] i just want to thank -- then davis from the san francisco housing corporation. she helped to get this bill. i also wanted to introduce supervisor cohen to state a few words. we are all one family and we were together but i also wanted to thank every development staff, especially andrea baker for helping to manage this project. [applause] supervisor cohen? >> thank you, mr. mayor, for once again and leaving me with nothing left to say. it is good to see our city partners and a special t

joining him is supervisor malia cohen, robert ramirez from the portola neighborhood steering committee, and many department heads, including jennifer from the office of economic and workforce development, ed harrington from the san francisco public utilities commission, regina from the small business office, bevon from sf hope, and revitalizing our commercial corridors has been near and dear to mayor lee's heart since his days as director of dpw and as city administrator and down as mayor. whether it did the dpw community corridor program, ambassador program, or the challenge grant, the mayor is always asking us how can we strategically deploy our resources to revitalize these aboard commercial corridors in areas that need it the most? with that, i would like to introduce mayor edwin lee. [applause] >> thank you, city administrator. good morning. welcome to the portola neighborhood. that is the pronunciation that i learned many years ago when we were picking up garbage in these little pockets all over this san bruno avenue. and we learned that very quickly, because the neighborhoods fe

and community organizer turned member of the san francisco board of supervisors democratic malia cohenlcome to you both. arthur's been here before, but nice to have you joining us. arthur, let me start with you. mitt romney was talking again today about knowing some owners of some teams. i want you to listen to a little sound byte and i'll get your reaction on the backside: >> bless his heart arthur, he just can't help himself. >> he soon will be up in the top row of that stadium. >> unless it's a box on the top row. >> the thing is, we have our candidates, whether it's george bush or the vice president biden that have this problem. in the long run you look at the polls, look at how they're doing. obviously, you're going to look at who's going to win the election, but he means well. this is who he is, and the people are going to have to accept that, just like they accept joe biden. >> the advice that he's been getting recently, what's wrong with joe biden by the way? >> he seems the same kind of problems that concerns the democrats. >> that's true, but romney is getting more predictabl