thank all of you for being here, and in particular, wants to congratulate all of the newly elected supervisors for your leadership. and i'd like to first acknowledge all of the officials who are here today, starting first with our wonderful state senator, -- [applause] we have a representative of congresswoman jackie speier who is here. jonathan kest. the former president of the board of supervisors angela alioto. our city attorney dennis her rer. our assessor, phil tang. our treasurer jesus. our member of the board of education. [applause] our public defender. our police chief. our fire chief. i do believe the chief of staff to the mayor is here, steve connell. and representing our city administrator, representative edwin brown. [applause] so at this time, i'd like to acknowledge our newly elected colleagues in the numerical order of their district. and give them an opportunity for some brief remarks and for some family introductions. i'd like to start with our newest supervisor from district two, supervisor mark farrell. [applause] supervisor farrell: thank you, president chiu, and congratulations again on your election. what an experience. i am so proud to be here today in front of all of you. and so excited to be here and share it with my family. i'm proud to be here today, first and foremost, as a kid who grew up in the neighborhoods of district two. a current resident of district two. but most importantly, as a san franciscan, i am proud to be here today. i ran for office with the belief that i could make a difference, that i could bring a different perspective to this board of supervisors. to fulfill the promise of a san francisco i remember growing up here in this city. a san francisco with vibrant neighborhoods, families. a city that celebrates our diversity, a city that boasts both a strong labor community and also a thriving business community that is viewed as a long-term partner here in the vitality of our great city. and i look forward to working together with my fellow board members to make that vision a reality. and i'd be remiss if i don't spend a few minutes thanking the folks that brought me here today. first and foremost, of course, to the voters of district two. i am honored by your support. and for sending me here today. and i cannot tell you what an experience it is to be here representing district two. for someone who grew up on chestnut streak, as a park director, going to stewart hall growing up, to now sit here before you representing district two is an incredible honor. and i know not many people get a chance to do that. i think i'm very lucky to be joined by supervisor elsbernd and now cohen, who are representing the neighborhoods they grew up in, and it is very special. and i commit to you the residence of district two to work tirelessly for you, to build on the legacy of my predecessors, mayor gavin newsom, and supervisor michela alioto-pier, to work for those neighborhoods and work with all the energy that you deserve. to my campaign staff, in particular chris and margo, thank you for all that you did, for taking a chance on, let's be honest, a political unknown. and someone who was from the neighborhood, but had a dream and a vision. i think together we show that a true, authentic campaign message and nothing but pure determination could stand in the way, and we did it. to the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers that i was blessed to have on my campaign, i cannot thank you enough. for the people who are our precinct captains, the hundreds of people, individuals, couples, families that open up their homes, for house parties, and for the volunteers that spent saturdays and weekdays in the rain, knocking on toors -- doors throughout district two. i would not be here without you. and i'm never going to be able to repay the debt of your time and your labor except to commit to you that i will work to live up to the faith you put into me. to my family, first and foremost, outside of san francisco, in germany, in new york, in denver, your e-mails and your phone calls, your messages, i didn't respond to them all. but i got them and you were incredibly meaningful throughout this campaign as support. to my brothers and sisters, first to connie and mark, you are my true brothers. to my brother and sisters-in-law for all of your support. the hours of walking together in the streets of district two throughout the campaign. i think more importantly, your unconditional love and support meant everything. not a week goes by that i'm not reminded how lucky we are to have each other. and raise our children together . to jim and bessie, your support was similarly unconditional, and i know how hard it was to come from the 90-degree weather in danville over the summer to walk the streets of district two in 55-degree weather, but i appreciate all the time that you spent. father prieto, i am honored that you are here today. you are a true friend for a long time, and what do you know? now we have two grads on the board of supervisors. and i know we're both very excited that you're here today. to my parents, the best parents anyone could ask for. who would have known that raising your son in the marina would have led to. this -- to this. i would like to say this is your countless hours and your support were extraordinary. but i know it's just being who you are. and you are my rock. i love you guys. i'll get through this, i promise. to my wife liz. my partner in everything i do. if you think it's difficult running for office, try being the spouse and try being the spouse with two young children at home. liz did it with grace, put up with me throughout the campaign. and we did it. and i love you more and more every single day. and lastly, to madison and jack. my children. our children. for your unconditional love and support. being a father has been the greatest joy of my life. and daddy loves you very much. to my legislative aides, i thank you for coming onboard. i am so excited to work together. we are going to be a great team. and to my new colleagues, i really look forward to working together. returning city hall to a place that is based upon ideas and issues and not ideology. where common sense reigns, and a body where we can all represent our districts with vigor, where we all represent the citizens of san francisco. and i can't wait to get started. thank you. [applause] president chiu: thank you, supervisor farrell. our next is the new supervisor from district six, supervisor jane kim. [applause] supervisor kim: exactly 10 years ago, on monday, january 8, 2001, i walked into chinatown community development center to begin my first day as a community organizer. i was hired to run our youth organizing and leadership program. and my role was to bring in young people and to give them the skills and opportunities that they needed to make change in our communities, the change that we wanted to see. i had no idea when i walked into that office 10 years ago where i would be today. and i've been very cool since election day. and today was the first day -- and it surprised me how emotional i felt walking in here. mainly seeing so many of the people that i've worked with, that have mentored me, that have made me a part of their community and my family. and i'm so honored to be a part of this movement and community of people that are so dedicated to change, that they can't help but wake up every morning to serve their community. sorry, mark, you got me started. so i want to thank the voters of district six for your faith and supporting me. i want to thank our amazing and hard-working and dedicated campaign team. for helping us meet as many voters as we could reach in district six. i also have tremendous respect for the many candidates that ran for the seat as well. and i feel honored to be here today because there are many people that wanted to lead and serve for the city and they truly, truly cared about the betterment of san francisco and had tremendous ideas, and it speaks really highly of the district that i'm representing. it is a passionate district. it is a district that is dynamic, that is changing, that has an opportunity to be a model for the city of san francisco, because it is both new and emerging and historic. having run city wide twice, i can say about district six that really struck me was the openness and the honesty of the residents, an openness in terms of what they saw as being the betterment of our city. and hopefulness. a lot of hopefulness. i love district six. i'm excited to serve it. and one of the things that i am proud of is that i think that we have a lot more in commune than we don't. one of the things that people had mentioned to me when i had thought about running for district six is that it would be a challenging district to run in, because it is so diverse. and with so many different interests. but talking to the residents, i actually learned the people want the same things. people want to see more jobs. they want our streets to be cleaner and safer. they want our schools to be better. and they want it to be a place that's open to everybody. moving from an organizer to an elected official was a huge shift for me. as an organizer, you can work with people one-on-one. you can really impact the lives of people in a way that's very different. and shifting to be an elected official is a very different role. we may not be able to change the lives of individuals anymore, but we help people in facilitating processes. we help make processes more accessible, transparent, we give out information that people may not have access to, weir a hammer for the community, and we help facilitate things for people who want to make change in this city. i will always support organizing. organizers of those that change the city. i will always support and work on policies which will make our city more equitable and more just. i support community building, because i think how we may change together is by caring about one another because we know one another. and i will always listen and be an open door. i want to acknowledge my family, who is here with me today. my father and my mother and my brother phillip. last night was the first time i had told them in korean that i love them. because in korean, it's a very, very different work. [speaking in korean] and to the community -- [speaking in korean] thank you so much for your support. someone asked me after the election if i felt that i owed the mentors in the communities that allowed me to be here today, because i would not be here if not for a community of support that brought me here. and at first when i thought about that question, i was like, of course, i owe people for being here. but it didn't sit right with me to say that i owed people. and it suddenly dawned on me that it's not that i feel like i owe people. but i have been given so much in this life. so much from my family and so much for my community. the next four years are actually my way of giving back. thank you so much for your support. it is an honor to be here today. and i look forward to working with all of you. [applause] [applause] president chiu: thank you, supervisor kim. our next speaker will be the newest supervisor from district eight, supervisor scott weiner. [applause] supervisor wiener: i always try to keep in mind the history here, and the history in san francisco and try to remember that where we are today is not just a snapshot in time, that things happen and develop over time to bring us where we are. and i try to keep that in mind in my own life as well, in terms of what has brought me here today to have the honor of representing district eight and san francisco on the board of supervisors. starting out as a jewish kid in southern new jersey, in a place where there really weren't very many jews and a lot of people, frankly, didn't know what a jew was. to being a gay kid in college in the south in a place where there weren't very many openly gay kids. to coming out to san francisco as a 27-year-old and getting here and wondering how i was going to be involved and how i was going to work in my community, and over time, i have been so fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve my community, to serve this city, and to come to this point today. and i am so honored to be here. i also always have in mind the many people who have made it possible for me to be here today, not just on my campaign, and i am so deeply grateful to everyone who allowed me to win this election, to be here. but the people starting from day one who made me the person that i am today. i want to acknowledge my parents richard and elaine. these are people who really do lead by example. and by their example and their conduct, taught me what it meant to be honest, to treat people with respect, to act with integrity, and mom and dad, i love you so much. and thank you for everything you've done for me over the years. to my aunt leah, who -- she doesn't know this, but she has been such a role model to me. she came out of as a lesbian in the 1960's, before "will & grace," before "glee," before rosie o'donnell, before it was cool to be gay, when it was still a mental illness, according to the psychiatric profession. she was strong and she made a life and it made it so much easier for me to come out as a gay man. my kid sister melissa, who had to leave my two very young nephews behind in new york to be here. who has always been such a rock for me, over all the ups and downs in the last 40 years of my life, and i just love you dearly. to my family members who are not here because they're watching down from heaven, my grandmother, my aunt nancy, my cousin andrea, my uncle chick, and i know that they're smiling today for what this family has been able to accomplish. i want to acknowledge my colleagues in the city attorney's office, particularly the city attorney dennis herrera, for allowing me to grow as a lawyer and has been an amazing experience there. and all of the mentors in this community who have taken me under their wing and taught me how to be a leader, and i really want to acknowledge our state senator. when i was 27 and moved here, then pre-supervisor, mark took me under his wing and taught me what it meant to work in the community. i want to acknowledge senator leno and supervisor dufty as well as harvey milk and all of my predecessors. i am keenly aware of the leadership that has gone on in this district, and i have huge shoes to fill. we have a challenging two years ahead of us. and to my colleagues, i am so looking forward to working with you. you have my commitment that i will always be honest with you, i will always treat you with respect, i will always try to find common ground, because i don't care who you are or how different we are politically, there is always common ground. and we need to work on the basic, on getting our transportation system back on ground, on dealing with our gargantuan pension and retiree health care obligations, on bringing jobs back in the city. and i am just absolutely delighted to be on all of your teams to try to mike that -- to try to make that happen. so congratulations to everyone. [applause] president chiu: thank you, supervisor weiner. our next colleague to speak will be our newest supervisor from district 10, supervisor malia cohen. [applause] supervisor cohen: hello. is this thing on? when i was 16 years old, that was the first time i came into the chamber. i walked through that door, and i stood right around where rick was, and then where supervisor campos now sits. and i even had the nerve to walk up to try it out. and it was one opportunity that allowed me the luxury to come through those doors, from the backside. and that was because of the mayor's youth forum. it was an organization that was established under the administration under frank jordan, and it gathered youth from all around san francisco and it provided them an opportunity to talk about the policy, to talk about the issues that were affecting youth around san francisco. but the number one thing that it did was it exposed you to public service. many of you might have read the article in the "chronicle" that talked about when i was 8 years old and i walked in city hall when i was in the third grade. dianne feinstein was mayor at that time. she spoke to my third grade class and she impressed upon us the importance of service. and how to give selflessly of your time and your talents. and that's why i'm honored to stand before you today. so, you know, this morning -- that's ok, i came prepared. thank you very much. so this morning, i really, really stand before you so humbled, so filled with so much appreciation and gratitude, to every single member of my campaign team, of my family, and every single resident of district 10 that walked with me and knocked on doors with me and stood with me. i am a san francisco native, and that is something that i take very seriously. there are very few of us here, and i plan to spend the next four years working with my colleagues to ensure that more san francisco natives can stay here. i am the product of the public school system. s.i., i promise you, will not have a lock on the board of supervisors. [laughter] [applause] so to my friends and now colleagues who sit on the school district, i'm a graduate of lowell heights and i'm very, very proud to say that. as you know, district 10 has been the home of my family for many generations. i'd like to acknowledge my grandfather, bish shop cohen, who -- bishop cohen, who is approaching 90. [applause] who spent his life and his career in labor as a long shoreman, thank you. but what is most important is that he taught my father and my aunts and my uncles the responsibility of family values and hard work. and those values have been passed on to myself and my four younger sisters. my grandmother is here, florence brown. she also is a strong matriarch in our family. [applause] i introduce you because i really want to paint a picture. i want you to understand who i am. my grandmother, right after i was elected, sent me a letter from my great aunt, who has now passed, her sister, who was the first african-american woman to serve as acting mayor for new orleans, louisiana, in the 1980's. so i'm coming from a legacy here of strong leadership. and i will continue to bring that strong leadership to san francisco. not just the district 10 residents, but for everyone. my mother and my father edward and loretta have managed to build a wonderful life together, going on 34 years. and i am so honored and so thankful. my mother is a clinical child therapist, a social worker by trade. and my father climbed telephone polls. he also comes from labor. a strong commitment to working hard and an incredible dedication to his family. i've got four incredible younger sisters. dr. jennifer cohen. we've got erica, ho is not able to be with us. today. we have marlena and katherine. and i'm also very excited to be here speak before my 13-month-old niece. thank you. and the reason why this is so paramount is we must inspire our young people. we must create opportunities, not just for all youth, but also particularly, our women. there are four women on the board of supervisors, and one day, again, we will have a woman who will be president of the board of supervisors. we will have another woman that's going to be mayor of san francisco. [applause] thank you.