let's will come mayer brown. -- welcome mayor brown. >> when mayor newsom telephoned me and asked if i would be available to participate in the effort to make sure that all san franciscans assumed collectively the responsibility to put this institution on sound financial grounds, now and going forward, obviously, i could not turn down that request. i suspect every other san franciscan would do likewise. he told me the city attorney's office would do what would need to be done to make sure that we would have the opportunity to do it. he said there were some people already pledged on the foundation side to be a part of the effort. obviously, it is going to take lots of hard work, but it is, frankly, a joy to be part of maintaining, and hopefully, perpetuating one of the flagship cultural institutions in this city. this city is about culture. this city is about pride in ethnic heritage. this city is about an appreciation of the extraordinary talents of people on the arts side and to have 6000-year-old pieces that you can see no other place in the world come and to have the collection he

i want to thank mayor newsom, mayer brown for coming out of retirement, so to speak, to make sure that he will continue to help in the fundraising effort, and i applaud everyone's work that they have done to assure that 15 years from now this institution continues to be the world leader in educating generations of san franciscans about the importance of asian art. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, dennis. what a wonderful speech. it was before my time, but i remember mayer brown who unveiled this wonderful building, museum to the people of san francisco. so once again he is with us. let's will come mayer brown. -- welcome mayor brown. >> when mayor newsom telephoned me and asked if i would be available to participate in the effort to make sure that all san franciscans assumed collectively the responsibility to put this institution on sound financial grounds, now and going forward, obviously, i could not turn down that request. i suspect every other san franciscan would do likewise. he told me the city attorney's office would do what would need to be done to make sure that w

mayer brown and dennis herrera, are leading that effort. as the future ex-mayor, perhaps i can be committed to that effort, to go out there and to seek to reach, not only within the san francisco community but throughout the bay area and state, nation, and for that matter, around the world, to raise the millions of dollars that need to be raised by the foundation to put it on more permit financial footing. so the purpose of the day was to celebrate the work that has been done and the case that there is a lot of work that needs to continue to be done and we have the right people to do it. i will close by thanking those who are about to come up and speak, for their remarkable leadership and commitment. thank you, dennis herrera, ben rosenfield, steve cava, carmen chu, and notably, willie brown. >> thank you, mr. mayor. our next speaker will be the city attorney, deninis herrera. >> thank you, jay. i thought it was notable to thank the mayor. he will be going to the lieutenant governor's office. i think it is notable that mayor newsom said he

deep gratitude to mayor newsom, mayer brown, city attorney dennis herrerra, controller rosenfield, and other leaders for their leadership and helping us find a solution to the debt. we appreciate the city's assistance and support for assisting us in these difficult economic challenges. the city's support is for a wealthy cause. for nearly 40 years, the asian art museum foundation has provided much-needed financial support for the museum. this support has enabled the museum to successfully fulfill its mission of leading a diverse global audience in discovering the unique materials, aesthetic and intellectual, achievements of the asian culture. over the years, millions of museum visitors have experienced the museum's world-renowned connection -- collection. truly one of the city's most viable assets as well as for a great array of education.

i want to thank mayor newsom and mayer brown, but many people do not know my career came with -- with my editor here, what did you want to say? >> i love you. bye-bye. >> thank you. i love you. bye-bye. >> supervisor campos. supervisor campos: i do not think i can top sydney on that one. i want to thank supervisor dufty for giving me the opportunity to get to know him in the last couple years, and we live in san francisco, and san francisco is a very excepting place, but there is something unique about the lgbt queerer experience, and it has been an honor to serve as the other openly gay supervisor. and now i think it was appropriate he was here as supervisor dufty is now in his last board meeting. i have learned a lot, and i do not want to prolong this, because i know people are waiting, but i do want to thank you for taking the time to share with me your experience, your thoughts, for being so gracious, so generous, and more than anything else for your friendship and for showing me through your example of the importance of treating everyone with respect and dignity, of keeping an op

mayer brown, and reverend brown knows very well. in the early 1970's, a community leader from japan town and let the board informed of the african american roundtable to improve relations between japanese and african americans in the western addition, but it is going to take a lot more than just groups coming together to talk about stereotypes and misperceptions. for these tragic deaths, they must rise a responsibility to reach out beyond our communities and make sure that we understand that there is a cost to holding misperceptions and believes that oppress us all. thank you. [applause] >> we have got a great program for you, and for those of you who have attended in years past, you know that we celebrate with song. we celebrate with dance, and we celebrate recognizing different cultures from around the world, so leading off today is a wonderful performance by students -- yes, they are all students. they are -- their organization is called the golden gate bong what association. these young women are students at san francisco state

. -- to see our mayer brown here with us. ns a lot to us. >> these and gentlemen, da mayor, willie brown. [applause] >> thank you very much. i am, of course, delighted to again be part of this celebration. claudine is absolutely correct. in a city and county of sentences, the diversity that exists here in terms of age, sexual orientation, race, national origin, religious interests, all of those items are part of what we each celebrate with each other, even though we may not be technically a part of it. that is what makes it such a very special city. as indicated, we are meeting some challenges now, facing ourselves, with reference to conduct our people, but be advised -- we will get through this, as we have gotten through everything in this city, and we will only be better for having done so. so we will do so in the manner in which we always have. [applause] thank you very much for being here. [applause] >> as the evening goes on, we will hear

and as a presentation is going to show, this reconvenes the committee, and mayer brown always used to, there will

and as a presentation is going to show, this reconvenes the committee, and mayer brown always used to say, there will never be an earthquake on his watch. and he was right and i cannot criticize them. he was very confident about this. he was thinking that everything would go well. and we will have tibets a little bit. i am now watching in i am not on just yet. in the next few weeks. the first meeting that had, we were walking to reconvene the disaster council. this was six or eight years. people have forgotten about this. we had put in -- we had put together the emergency planning. the president was looking through his policy papers, and this was well above the first document. and you can see a lot of what he was doing, no other region has done as much as we have. and so, we have put this out of place with the definition and the direction and we will have to keep working on this. and personalities become very dominant. and this is a measure of the performance. you have the emergency, and everyone is operating in organizing in this way. that is one of the challenges that will remain. i

i would like to think mayer brown for appointing me to the port commission, mayor newsom for pointing me to the board of supervisors. it was the position that i never sought and won the i was frankly surprised to receive. i would like to thank my staff over the years, including stefanie and bill. they have been fabulous, and i would like to thank my my husband tom, my parents, my brothers, sisters, and my huge family, who without their love, affection and support, this would be a tough job, but it has been a true honor and distinction to serve the city and county of san francisco. i thank you for the experience, and i look forward to the future. [applause] >> soua riser elsbernd -- supervisor elsbernd? supervisor elsbernd: i just want to thank you for being such a great friend, being someone who has provided such tremendous council, here in this chamber and as someone who is a little viewer, you have been fantastic in that regard, and especially what i will miss beyond your friendship and counsel and integrity, when the time got a little tense, nothing brought me as much joy as whispe

i would like to think mayer brown for appointing me to the port commission, mayor newsom

his spouse was mayer brown's chief of staff. i dare say that richard has frequent flier miles in connection with more communities and more offices i have ever had in a partner that works at city hall. i think that he would do a lot to reflect what josh brought up, what all communities have -- needs and interests reflected in historic preservation. can you talk for a moment about your practice? >> yes. my practice is primarily but not exclusively business litigation. at one time i did a great deal more transactional work. for many years i have, while the tannery was owned by the martin family, i represented the cannery. the reason that is of interest to what we are doing here today is because that was one of the first projects in the united states which repurchased an old building. which gave a new life. when the martin family engaged me to represent it as a kind of general counsel, one of the first things that they told me was to take a walk around the building. our realm the development. to look at the thomas church garden and