Saying how wonderful he was. I happened to be with anita and her family earlier this week, and a call came in from former president bill clinton, and he had that same feeling because he said i liked ed lee the moment i met him, and that friendship grew and grew and grew. And he said so many wonderful things to i think tania, you took the call. And i have some other letters, there are many. But if i may, anita, id like to read some for you and for the rest of you. Glad theyre still here. This one is from lets see. Let me get it first here. This is from former president barack obama. Deer anita, breanna, and tania. Shis michelle and i were so sad to hear of eds passing. Eds passion and dedication to the city that he loved inspired everyone who know and had the privilege to work alongside him. I know he will be deeply missed, and i want you to know that i am incredibly grateful for everything that he put into advancing our shared vision and values. While no words can ease the pain you must feel, i hope you take comfort inn knowing that his efforts to shape a future of greater justice and prosperity, both throughout San Francisco and the nation will continue to inspire generations to come. Again, please accept my sincere condolences. You will remain in my thoughts during this difficult time. Signed, barack obama. Well, we heard from bill, and now were hear from hillary. It is to you, anita, your family, and to san franciscans. It is with a heavy heart that i send greetings to all those gathered in the soaring rotunda gathered in San Franciscos city hall to honor and sell great the life of your late mayor and my dear friend, ed lee. I was shocked and werent we all, when i learned the news of eds passing. Throughout his trail blazing career in public service, he never stopped fighting for those who are all too often invisible to our society. As a joyful champion for civil rights and human rights, ed made his mark on your be will he beloved city, fighting for immigrant rights, minority businesses, expanded public works, and Economic Investment and opportunity. He never forgot whom he served, nor his roots as the child of chinese immigrants. I was proud to know and work with ed and will always cherish the time we shared together. As you gather today to shed a tear, share a laugh, and remember and celebrate mayor ed lee. Please know that my warmest wishes and heartfelt condolences are with you, to the lee family and San Francisco, ed was loved by many. He will be greatly remembered and dearly missed. Signed, Hillary Rodham clinton. The last one, i can deliver when anita asked me to do two things. She said, there is a song that she loved, and i think you will, too. It is interesting when he asked me about that song, just out of the blue came a letter. I figure that ed had something to do with it getting here, and it is from the ambassador of San Francisco, tony bennett. It says, to the lee family, anita, breanna, and tania, and the city of San Francisco, it is with deep sadness to know that the next time i come to your beautiful city, that mayor ed lee will not be there to greet me in person. As he was a dear friend and will be greatly missed by so many. However, his Lasting Legacy of support, dedication and love for San Francisco will always be present and will continue on as part of this great citys history and vibrant future. Then, he says, i know i have sang this lyric thousands of times, and this is in quotes, it says, your golden sun will shine with me, and mayor ed lee was a golden son of San Francisco, and his contributions to this city will continue to shine for all of its citizens. And as you may know, mayor lee dedicated a statue in front of the fairmont hotel. Right now, it has a red scarf around its neck to try to keep warm. He was there for the dedication, and as you know, tony bennett has been here many times as an ambassador to our city. So now, may i present mr. Tony bennett on video. He would have loved to have been here. [ tony bennett singing i left my heart in San Francisco ] [ applause ] to the lee family, anita and the two daughters, San Francisco has, on this day, appropriately acknowledged and celebrated the life of a man who was different than any of his predecessors. Present in this room are representatives of those predecessors. From the christopher years, the shelley years, the alioto years, the moscone years, the feinstein years, the jordan years, the brown years, the newsom years. Ed lee was different than any of that category of groups that i just described. He really did not want the job. Im not sure ed lee ever wanted any job except except one. When i became mayor of San Francisco, i had known of ed lee in part because he was one of the lawyers that handled the integrating and integrated of our department. He was part of the challenge that bob dimons and the black people that wanted to fight fires. He sued, and there were group of lawyers with a consent decree, so i knew him from that perspective of the consent decree. And then, this person i knew told me he had this person doing whistleblower activities and human rights, and he gave me his number, and the number was oakland. Are you kidding me . I wouldnt hire anybody from oakland, unless he lives in San Francisco. I called ed lee in. He really didnt want the job, but i said, youve got to take the job, but you also have to move to San Francisco. What do you mean, i have to move to San Francisco . I said thats probably the only good advice youre ever going to get from me. He accepted that. Where was ed lee about to take groceries home to . To the house that he bought as a result of my insisting that if he takes a job with me, he had to live in this city. Now, you should know that there are mayors from all over the country here. Benjamin from columbus will have the u. S. Conference of mayors, hancock from denver, these are all people who are friends of ed lees. There are mayors from the nine counties, the bay area. Libby schaaf, the mayor of san jose, mayor of richmond, mayor of sacramento. Theyre all here because they genuinely were friendly with, respected, and honored ed lee. Thats the kind of impression ed lee could make and did make on everybody. Governor jerry brown is here because ed lees last trip out of San Francisco was to go to chicago to participate with 36 other mayors or 35 other mayors to sign a document with reference to the business of Climate Change and global warming. Ed lee was doing those things. And rabbi singer, ed lee would never put any of that on his informational reference source, unlike gavin, me, and all these other people. He didnt do ads at all. I took more credit for what ed lee did than probably anybody else because i had been part of the conspiracy to get him to take the mayors job. He didnt want the mayors job. He really did not want the mayors job, and newsom, youre right. He did not want the mayors job. So what did we do . He was off in hong kong. We talked newsom into staying an extra day so that we could do what ed lee never did, have to do, never would have done and never would have been good at. We had to get six votes for him to become the mayor following newsom, but we needed one more day. We convinced newsom not to get sworn in as Lieutenant Governor for one more day to give us a little bit more time. We also had to make sure that ed lee didnt know what we were doing. And sure enough, anita helped, kept him over there, but he had to be home because sometimes in this town, when you get the votes, you better call the election immediately. Otherwise, the votes might disappear. Sure enough, he headed home. Start to get on the airplane, and some airport personnel person welcomed mr. Mayor on the airplane. Ed lee had no idea what she was talking about. He turned around to look to see who she was walking about. She was talking about ed lee, and fortunately, it was not totally given away, because he landed, and we got him to, in fact, accept the job. Why did we do that . We did that because ed lee had the qualities of a person whom if you did an interview of all of the ones that i just spoke about, he would be the only one would be rated appropriately by the head hunters as to who ought to be mayor. All of rest of us would be considered okay, but not first, because we were not always candid. Ed lee was. We were not always diplomatic. Ed lee was. He had so many of the wonderful qualities that he would have been easily the head hunters recommended person to fill the job as the mayor. I can see it now as he is hanging out with your father, angela, in heaven and jonathan, with george. And for those of you on burtons side, hes talking to phil about why he would be admitted. He was that kind of advocate. He would, on any given day, do what needed to be done to solve the problem and make it work, and im very pleased, anita, that you allowed all of us in the building that ed lee had something to do with restoring following the 89 quake. He was in City Government at each of the steps and each of the way. And by the time this building opened, he was running the department of public works, completed the job with harlan and all of the other people that worked on it. Ed lee was an unusual human being. It was the saturday before his death, on that early tuesday morning, that he was at the makrass, raising money for a supervisor who wishes to be the person to handle the board of equalization of San Francisco. And in his usual generous fashion, he was incredibly respectful. He was introduced. I was standing in the audience, watching, as i usually do, all other previous mayors. Ed lee was supposed to introduce the honoree. He saw me, and as usual, he proceeded to say the introduction of the honoree will be done by the person that i want to identify and introduce, and he proceeded to introduce me. Well now, ive not always been an easy person to tolerate over an extended period of time, because im always a little off kilter here and there as nancy and diane and others will tell you. But ed lee had so much respect. I would guess, diane, i would guess, gavin, if either of you had been present, he would have extended the same opportunity, and im sure, jerry, he would have extended it to you. Thats how ed lee functioned. He really wanted people to understand the pecking order and how important that kind of diplomacy really was. He had me introduce the honoree, and he introduced me, and he did it in the fashion he would do it. You know, you talked about charlotte, you talked about his joke ability, and his daughters. He told terrible jokes. He laughed because he was trying to build enthusiasm for his jokes. I dont remember one line that was any good, but there is one i intend to close the column with next sunday that ed lee said to me at victors house. He says, you know, ive been thinking. If President Trump is prosecuted, and he has to serve time in a federal jail, maybe we should see if we can get alcatraz back operational. Ed lees last joke. Mayor brown, thank you so much for drawing back the curtain and letting us see the workings of that happy conspiracy. Were all surprised that youd be involved in such a thing. Im mark andrus, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of california. I represent the panel, including the great amos brown, a true hero in civil rights for so many decades, the last one of the last actual students of Martin Luther king, one of the last he ever taught. I also come at the end of this great celebration, and i knew it would be what it has been that is, tremendous leaders, not only of california but of the united states, drawing from their own broken hearted place, to provide comfort to mayor lees family, his immediate family, his extended family, and also as gavin newsom said to his staff and the mayors who worked with him, all of whom are broken heards, as are we all, this was all meant to be a celebration that provided what is called a balm. This is a balm in gilliad. Grief does not go away on schedule. It does not go away at the end of a schedule. These words, i pray, will lodge in your hearts, and feed you and nourish you and comfort you in days and weeks and years to come. Presiding over us are not only the stars and stripes of our great country, but the flag of our great city, the greatest city in our country. And on our flag to my left above us, is the phoenix, our symbol. It is the symbol of rebirth and new life. It was given to us as a sign of what a community can do in faith together, pulling together in love, the only virtue that never ends. It is also about individual rebirth. The phoenix is a symbol not only for communities, but for individual people, and the power that brings new life is not the power of pulling together or of selfwill and determination, but the power that guides the universe. That power, which is love, will ensure that ed lee lives forever. Not only in memory, but in truth. Im going to read a psalm, a psalm of david. The lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I maketh me lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his names sake, ay, though i walkthrough the valley of the shadow of death, i fear no evil. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou prepareest a table in the company of my enemies. Thou prepareest a cup, my cup floweth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Oh, merciful god, receive him into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed wrest of everlasting peace, and into the Glorious Company of the saints and light. Amen. Grant unto those who are all bereaved that they may have the strength to greet the day with steadfastness and patience. In this we ask, in the name of god. Amen. Now, go forth into the world in peace, be of good courage. Hold fast to that which is good. Render unto no one evil for evil. Strengthen the faint hearted, support the weak, comfort the afflicted, be patient with everyone, but make no peace with oppression. Love and serve the devine, and blessing got all mighty, the source of all life, the direction of all life, and the goal of all life. Be among you and remain with you forever. Ed would come by often to hear the music of pure ecstasy, so we came by just to serenade you because we loved him. [ pure ecstasy singing ] happy holidays. Happy holidays. All right. Im glad to be here with our supervisors, Council District merchants, community mbz, but of course, were here to thank local 798, our Fire Department. What a what a challenging year that weve had. And i know our hearts always go out to the people who will put themselves in danger in order to save others. Time and time again, our firefighters, whether its fires up north or around the bay area, they jumped to it and saved a lot of peoples lives and property. But they give joy and can do that more than other people that we know that may not have that opportunity. This toy program is something that we all take great pride in, because it represents so much of our valve values of giving back and making care of children in our city so they can have a similar experience when the holidays come. Not everyone gets that same experience, but our firefighters and our union know how to do it. On that christmas day, they will make that extra effort as well to visit the families that didnt even have something that arrived for them. Thats a special treat. It is something that i value so much, that represents a city that keeps our city really strong. So, tommy, do you, to the union, to all of the members, to the Fire Department, congratulations on the toy program, reverberating a wonderful place, for the collection, and for its distribution and also to say thank you to each and every one of the members for the overthetop contributions to the families of the city. Happy holidays to you. [applause] thank you. Appreciate it. Good evening. I would like to welcome you to our johnny v. Toy haul, named after a firefighter. Johnny v. Left us years ago in a tragic accident, but hes never been forgotten and were offered to name this after him. Thanks to generous contributions, were standing in a beautiful, beautiful toy hall. It will allow us to better serve the program. Our toy program is the citys largest and nations oldest. It started in 1949, with firefighters fixing up old bikes. And it has grown to serving 40,000 children and delivering over 200,000 toys every year. [applause] this effort doesnt stop and start at christmas. Its a yearround effort. After the napa and sonoma fires, we sent toys up there immediately, to try to put some normalization into the childrens lives. In the next few days, were sending toys down to ventura county. We send toys to pediatric aids wards, cancer clinics, anywhere where theres a child in need. There is is done through the generosity of our donors and san franciscans that put toys in the red barrels that you see, in firehouses and lobbies and for me the Holiday Season kicks off when im dreaming home, frustrated, overworked, and i see firefighters carrying toys out of a building and it reminds us of what the holiday spirit is all about. What the Holiday Season means. How you cant forget people and you need to make sure that even in this rising economy that we dont leave the poorest behind. I want to thank our special partners that have made this possible. First and foremost, we have the academy of art, who let us sleep on our couch for five or six years now and deliver toys from their warehouse. At t, air bnb, ron calloway, San Francisco giants, barberie coast, alex turk and ground floor public affairs. And our elected family as well. Mayor ed lee, mark farrell, fiona ma, malia cohen, district supervisor, who will speak right now because shes giving me the look. Ladies and gentlemen, malia cohen. [applause] thank you. I want to recognize councillor safai and jeff sheehy. Local 78 has been incredible, whether theyre fighting fires or collecting toys or making chili, they know how to have a good time. I want to recognize the Board Members that are here. I think we have jill running around. And we have sally running the program. And i want to give a shoutout to clinton park also, and if there is any other staff persons that i missed, i apologize. Its just wonderful. Thank you for giving us a reason to come out here to district 10. Thank you for giving us a reason to bring a gift and to remind you, this is not the only opportunity. When you see a red barrel across the city, please, please donate a present. And also want to remind you to come on down to city hall because well have kris kringle in the house, as we do annual i will giving out toys and taking pictures. Again, i want to welcome you into our house in district 10 and lets let the Holiday Season begin. Thank you. [applause] now before our next speaker, i want to give a special thanks to mark leno who has set up this fundraising committee. And also a very, very special thanks to jill peeler and sale gizasa and sally jacobs, our volunteers that make this happen. They ruin their entire Christmas Season up to and including christmas morning, where theyre still giving out toys. A special thanks for making this happen every year. And our next speaker will be supervisor jeff sheehy. Thank you, tom. Its so great to be here with local 798. Tremendous work you do keeping us safe. Oldest Fire Department in the country. And this toy program is so amazing that you are able to do it yearround and help kids that lost everything due to fire. I know its been really hard up north. My motherinlaw lives up there. We had her for a while, which was interesting, when she evacuated. It was fun. Thank you to the donors making this possible. Its a great list of folks and your leadership on this, its fantastic. And happy holidays to everybody. This is really beautiful. And one of the great things that i was proud to do with my colleagues was get support for this building in last years budget round. And so i was very proud of that. It may have been the best thing that we did. But thank you, everyone, and happy holidays. [applause] all right, thank you, supervisor. And our next speaker and cochair will be mark leno. Thank you, senator. [applause] thank you, tom. I think we all knew tom as santa claus is a San Francisco firefighter. Dont you know when you are in San Francisco when you are in a union hall and there are chandeliers. Think of that, where else, but in our San Francisco. Its been a great honor to cochair this evening with our dear friend halah. Thank you. And if you have never been on the receiving end of a phone call with a request from halah, you want to say yes. And i have to say, no one works it like halah does. And thats why shes so in demand and so accomplished. So we all love this program so much for all the reasons stated. Tom mentioned over 40,000 disadvantaged children will have a smile on their face as a result of 200,000 plus toys that will be distributed. And the involvement it takes, the money it takes, is not insignificant. Let me add my thanks to our corporate sponsors, foundational sponsors, individual sponsors. There are a couple of things in life that we can count on. Number one, that the San FranciscoFire Fighters will be there in our hour of need. And that every season around this time, their hand will be in our pocket trying to raise money for toys for kids in need. And i think, tom, there is no doubt why were here. We want to be supportive of you and our supervisors, president reed, thank you for your leadership. I was going to introduce the mayor, but i dont think i have to do that anymore. I hand it back to you to please help me welcome our president of the board of supervisors, london breed. Thank you for supporting this program. When i was a kid in San Francisco, my grandmother to take me shopping to buy School Clothes or whatever else. We went at woolworths, kmart, things like that. And i would leave her and i would run to the toy section. And i would have a fit. Oftentimes, i was never able to leave walmart not walmart, but kmart or woolworths with a toy in my hand. I thought my grandmother was being mean, but the fact of the matter is, we couldnt afford to buy toys. She could barely afford to get us the clothes on our backs, which she oftentimes would put on layaway. And how fortunate that i had station 5 right down the street from my house and i knew no matter what i didnt get throughout the year that in december we would line up outside that door and get handed a bag of toys. [applause] what it does to put smiles on kids faces, when you hear the gunshots and craziness and everything around you, the time that you can pick up the toys, there is nothing else that matters at that time. No matter if im supervisor or anything else in this city, its a program near and dear to my heart, that it made a difference in my life. It took care of kids in my community and theyre consistently there every december, delivering the toys, delivering the bikes, delivering the smiles, delivering the love. And so i want to thank all of the sponsors and all of the people that are here to support this amazing program. We couldnt do it without you. Just this past monday we held an ethnic doll and book drive thanks to jill, over there with her mouth full. Jill and i worked together. They would donate to africanamerican art complex. But we did have a number of the challenges, with kids being africanamerican, we couldnt get a lot of africanamerican dolls. Having a doll that looks like you, makes a difference. This toy program this launched this ethnic doll and book drive that they do every single year to recognize that here in the city and county of San Francisco we come in all shapes and sizes, colors, races, everything that you can think of. And so all kids deserve an opportunity to smile during christmas with a toy, but more importantly, to get something that is going to make a difference and remind them that they are beautiful, that they are loved, and they are special. Again, thank you to each and every one of you for all the work that you continue to do. Thank you, tom oconnor, jill, sally, halah, and senator mark leno for the work that he did to make this happen. This is amazing, a great turnout. Lets keep the checks coming in. Lets keep the volunteers getting toys out to the kids in the community. Have a wonderful evening, everybody. [applause] thank you, supervisor. Our last speaker will be supervisor mark farrell. San francisco has been very good to the San Francisco firefighters. You treat us well, come ppensats well and our toy program is giving back to the program. And every once in a while, that thank you boomerangs and this year, supervisor mark farrell secured a 250,000 grant. And for that, were immensely thankful. It helped us to put the finishes on the chandeliers that state senator marck leno loves so muc. But without the leadership of this next supervisor, we couldnt have done it. Welcome supervisor mark farrell. [applause] i get to be the closer tonight. I dont think its because i secured the grant. I think its because im the only one in this room wearing green this evening. I see a lot of red out there. [laughter] i will be quick because im at the end here. A few things. First of all, to hala and the senator, thank you for cochairing this event. You deserve a ton of credit. My colleagues on the board, i mentioned this the other week. One of the best things that ive done as a parent since being at the board of supervisors, my wife and i take our three children down to station 1 and we go out and we rise with the officers, with the firefighters, into the tenderloin and other areas and hand out toys. As you think about being a parent, the best thing you can do is teach them that its better to give than receive. You are doing exactly that. Whether you financially contribute, whether you are out there giving the toys out yourselves, this is what its all about. This is the spirit of San Francisco. Im so proud to be a supporter here. I will always be a supporter, as i know everybody in this room will. Its a personal thing. As london mentioned, so personal to so many in so many ways. As we enter this Holiday Season, that we never forget those were trying to serve. I want to say on behalf of myself, my family, thank you for all that you do and thank you to 798 and to the firefighters in this room. Thank you for what you do for us every single day in San Francisco. Thanks, everyone. [applause] thank you, supervisors and all guests. 5 i want to thank you all to johnny v toy hall and thank you to sf realtors. Welcome and give generously. Hello, everyone. Im supervisor katy tang. Welcome to 12 days of kittens. My staff came up with an idea of hosting animals in our office so people can come and not only find animals that they might want to adopt, but we found its a great stress reliever for people that work in city hall. They come around all day, whether its the shift department or upstairs or the mta, just want to pet the animals and it helps people feel better. A lot of people proactively ask us, are you bringing back the kittens . Weve been doing this for five years. It usually culminates in a party in december. Well see animals adopted throughout the year. If people are thinking about animals to adopt, they may go to a pet store, buy from a breeder, go to spca, but we want people to know that the acc has animals that need homes. Every year, her office does the 12 days of kittens. And she picks up every morning cute, adoptable kittens. She has different groups of kittens every day and brings them to her City Hall Office and theyre there all day for everybody that goes through to see and enjoy. We adopt out 900 kittens every year, cats and kittens. Were working all year long promoting adoption, getting people in to see the cats. So its a pleasure it have the opportunity to showcase some of them in supervisor tangs office. Kittens love to play and theyre frolicking and all that and its super fun. Sometimes they will roam around peoples desks. If someone wants to adopt a cat, they can identify any of them that might be hanging around our office, but we have to go through animal care and control, make sure they pay a fee. Its very affordable, as well as they receive the proper vaccination. Come on down, adopt a cat. Theres a lot of kitties waiting for a beautiful home. How can you resist this face . I think Everyone Needs a pet in their life. It makes your day so much better. Better. Ok, lets get started. Welcome to our special, special, special budget and finance Committee Meeting for monday, december 11th, 2017. I am norman yee and i will chair this committee as soon as everyone is