[applause]

[applause] . >> thank you everyone. [applause] >> good evening. [off mic] dragon. that's why we have special and the dragon -- they're

always great. [applause] >> [off mic] let's give a round of applause. [applause] >> [off mic] and welcome to this year's new year celebration. i am claudine cheng from the the san francisco general hospital foundation and [off mic]. >> . >> . >> [off mic]. particular celebration because this is the first, the first of

many, many of asian pacific cultural celebration in the new year and family and friends getting together and wishing each other a happy and healthy new year with lots of good fortune and that's what we're doing here looking out at the rotundra today. this is diverse communities coming together and celebrating as san francisco family and wishing all the goodness that the year can bring, hopes, optimism, all the good things so we want to thank you for being here and i would like to say a few words in chinese. [speaking foreign language]

so i justin tsai to mention and the new year is celebrated in communities and the ask pacifics and this evening we prepared a number of performances celebrating the culture of a number of ache pacific count reese and china, indonesian and the philippines and celebrations like what we have here now doesn't happen in every city in the country or in the state of california. this has become kind

of a tradition for our city and because we are very lucky to have so many mayors through the years and our city officials who took every opportunity to bring communities together. we have very fortunate we have a city that embrace diversitys in the manner that we do and please welcome the host of this year's celebration, mayor london breed. [applause] >> thank you. let's hear it for commissioner claudine cheng. [applause] >> well first of all welcome to city hall everybody. happy lunar new year. you don't seem that enthusiastic. it's the year of the dragon, progress,

prosperity, courage. so many things represent the year of the dragon and what i am so excited about here in san francisco is what this means for the future of our city . this is going to be a great year, 2024 in our city, and it has everything to do with each and every one of you joining us here tonight to kick off lunar new year in san francisco. [applause] >> now, i wrote a new names down that i want to identify and i want to make sure they get this right, but first i want to start with my cohost tonight. you will from them in a little bit but i want to thank carmen chu, city administrator. [applause] >> sheriff paul mijamoto. public defender mano raju. and our other cohost david chiu couldn't be with us here tonight but as

many of you know he's everywhere so if he's want here tonight he couldn't really be here tonight and i want to thank the committee for all the work and the apa heritage foundation claudine cheng who does amazing work. thomas lee, al perez and grace. almost grace, almost. i want to also thank our chief of protocol marian and some of our amazing leaders, president of the chinese console baited benevolent association. thank you for being here today and our pair port commissioner representing the san francisco chinese chamber of commerce malcolm young. [applause]

>> and congratulations to kevin chang who is the new chaplain for the san francisco sheriff. [applause] >> and i know mary young is also here somewhere. now we have a number of new council generals and i want mention the countries joining us here today, korea singapore, mongoala. welcome to san francisco. we also have the consul general of japan as well as other places and can they please stand up. [applause] >> thank you to those who are joining us here today and welcome to the new council generals. we

look forward to welcome and you celebrating at the lunar new year parade this saturday as well, and we have some special guests visiting us from the district of west vancouver including the mayor, mayor mark saiger who is joining us today. welcome mayor. as well as your delegation from the meto vancouver transportation agency. can you all please stand. [applause] >> i want to acknowledge some of the elected leaders who are joining us here today starting with supervisor rafael mandelman, matt dorsey and joel engardio. [applause] >> . our assessor recorder jaking torres. our school board members please

stand. our treasurer jose cisneros. [applause] >> and jenny lam are you still president or -- okay. lanie is the president of the school board. all right. i am getting all my name exercise thingsed up but i think i took care of everything and we have some amazing department heads joining us here today and can you please stand, michael lambert from the library. greg colfax and mary and joe and thank you all for being here. if i didn't call your name raise your hand. just kidding. anyway again thank you so much for joining us and as i said we're kicking off the year of the dragon and prosperity, abundance, intelligence and honor. so many things represent san francisco as a whole and when i think how

amazing it is to celebrate lunar new year i think about the resiliency of the asian community, so many people immigrated here to san francisco and made it what it is today whether it's folks from the filipino community who immigrated to the south of market neighborhoods or japantown which is one of the best japantowns anywhere and chinatown which is one of the first and oldest anywhere in this country. we have so much incredible history with so many different communities that celebrate lunar new year and it is what makes san francisco unique. when we hosted the asian pacific economic corporation what i said during that time to so many of those visiting us from 21 economies is that san francisco is a gate way to the asian pacific. we represent diversity of

cultures in so many ways and when you think about it people travel to different places all over the world to experience different cultures but when you come to san francisco you can experience it all right here in our city whether it's different foods or different neighborhoods or different people. we all have a unique fabric that makes san francisco what it is today, and i appreciate being here celebrating on this momentous occasion, joy, excitement and happiness. after everything that we have been through the challenges of the pandemic, the challenges around anti-asian hate we're finally starting to see the representation of what the dragon means around progress with the 90% reduction in anti-asian hate crimes in san francisco and it is everything to do with all the work that we have been doing together. [applause]

>> so again i want to welcome you to san francisco city hall for this great celebration and really appreciate you all for coming together because after such a hard time, after so many challenges it is time to start rooting for san francisco. it is time to start rooting for what makes us so unique and special. it is time to start celebrating and experiencing joy and happiness and excitement. yes, san francisco has its challenges because we're a major city, but we need to start focusing on what makes us great, what makes us special, what makes us unique? and lunar new year with our diverse asian community is really an important part of what makes us special and what makes us unique. that's the celebration that we're hosting here tonight and we appreciate each and every one of you for joining us on this

auspicious occasion and we hope to see you saturday at the lunar new year parade as well. thank you all so much. [applause] >> i knew i was going to forget something so at this time i want to ask the counsel generals who are joining us today to come to the stairs so we can take a picture. right claudine? okay.

[applause] >> thank you everyone and next in the program we have another treat for you. let's welcome the

gordon j. lau elementary school students. these students have been sacrificing all lunch breaks to practice for today so let's give them a big round of applause. gordon lau. [applause] >> (music)

[applause] >> "i could dance by dua lipa watch me

dance the night away. my heart but you won't see it. watch me dance the night away. i still keep the party still running and when my heart breaks, when my world shakes i don't play. don't you know about me? i could dance, i could dance. i could dance. dance away. [applause] >> thank you students. i think the mayor was going to

thank the students. [applause] >> all right

everybody. big smiles. they're looking great. what do you say everybody; right? [applause] >> i mean i wish i could dance moves like that. all right. one, two, three. you got your pictures? we want to make sure we see all these wonderful students' faces in the picture.

[applause] >> all right. here we go. big, big round of applause. [applause] >> dragon pose. dragon pose. serious, brave and courageous. there you go. all right. thank you very much. big round of applause for gordon j. lau elementary school performers. [applause] >> and of course our wonderful brian here from lion dance. thank you. .

>> [off mic] [applause] >> thank you. good job. [applause] >> all right. another big round of applause. [applause] >> i'm going to

invite my cohost to come up, our chair will be joining me on the stage. good evening. my name is carmen chu and one of the cohosts today i want to welcome you all to city hall. i know many of you come from far and wide and busy schedules to join us with this wonderful celebration. as we go in the city and celebrate the lunar new year it's important to know what the lunar new year celebrates. [off mic] with our family to watch all the previous year and celebrate and un-- unity and coming together and we welcome to you city hall and hope you have a wonderful time in

today's performance. [speaking foreign language] and with that let me turn it over with comments from my do host. first i will start off with the sheriff. >> thank you carmen. [applause] applause happy new year everyone. it's always difficult to follow carmen and dragons and little dragons and lions and the wonderful culture represented here tonight. i'm very happy to see you here and as the mayor mentioned always welcoming people to city hall is a wonderful thing. we will have more fun on saturday at the parade and not like the one earlier but i will be under a dragon head in the parade and i look forward to that every year and i want you to be there as well because we feed off the energy of the audience and the community as we

celebrate the lunar new year together so i will do my best right now. [speaking foreign language] wow big round of applause. good job. [applause] >> it's wonderful to be here today on lunar new year. i am the public defender and you know as a son of indian immigrants it's special to see the wonderful diversity and how everyone shows their full potential. i was able to fortunately go home over the winter break and go to india and went to japan and back here in san francisco is really beautiful. i am in a jury trial seeing the wonderful diversity on the jury and i always want to sayad public defenders

and san francisco's public defender i believe what is truly the power and potential of every individual and wonderful to see it come together here and when i need inspiration i will go to the youth here and the dragons and they're amazing and lunar new year and happy new year and hope everyone enjoys the enjoy festivities. >> i'm going to invite others up here and after the speaking the mayor to come up with a photo with the elected officials and department heads so come on up. our assessor torres. . >> i want to go before him because he's going to wow

everyone with his cantonese and i'm going to wish everyone a happy new year and thank you so much for pulling this together. this is always an amazing amaze maze event. claudine you do so much for the city and so much for these celebrations in city hall and to everyone that made this happen thank you and happy year dragon everybody. [applause] >> so did you think ho ychoy and the extend of the chinese i know and this what i look forward to every 12 years and i'm a baby of the dragon and along with supervisor peskin who couldn't be here and my legislative aide is also year of the dragon so we're excited in the district six office. [applause] >> [speaking foreign

language] i want to wish everyone a very happy, happy year of the dragon, auspicious, prosperous, healthy, joyful extraordinary times for all of you and your families and see you in chinatown on saturday. >> thank you. [applause] >> all right. hey everybody. nobody celebrates lunar new year and the culture and the diversity of our community better than the city and county of san francisco in the entire country. i want to wish everyone a happy lunar new year and look forward to see you at at parade facultysh saturday. look forward for the book mobile. >> thank you. i want to recognize my department heads. michael you weren't supposed to say something but glad you did and i want to welcome all of the

department heads here and and mayor would you please come on up to take a photo with department head and other elected official and i will ask my folks to come up and stand loser closer to the lion. . >> >> and please stand closer to the lion. . >> all right. [applause]

>> and now of course for the performances. i think as most folks know we have so many different cultures represented in san francisco. many folks who all celebrate the lunar new year so of course we want to welcome and show case some of the amazing talent here in san francisco and so i will be introducing two dance performers that we will be starting. first is a dance performance by parangal dance company a filipino and folk dance and non-profit based here in san francisco. we will be having two dances from them and one is sohten and thalek and see a performance from the korean culture andept representing and honoring peace and harmony. please welcome both of these performances. [applause]

>> (dance performances)

[applause] >> beautiful. let's give our two performances a big round of applause again. thank you. [applause] >> before our third and last performance i would

like to introduce two community speakers to the stage. we have the presiding president of the chinese consolidated console benevolent association and they have sponsored so many events celebrating the chinese new year and as well as the chamber of commerce. welcome to both of you. [applause] >> honorable mayor lee, city officials, honorable guests and friends, happy new year. [applause] >> i am the

presiding president of the chinese consolidated benevolent association. on behalf of the association it's my honor to wish everybody a happy healthy pro perrous year of the dragon. lunar new year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year on the hundredar solar calendar. it's the most important holiday in china and celebrated for every 3,000 years. it is the time of the year to reunify the immediate and

extended family. on september 29, 2022 governor newsom proclaimed this day as california holiday. at the end of last year the united nations also made it a holiday. that's big. this meaningful celebration world wide event. i'm grateful to have the opportunity to represent the chinese consul benevolent celebration to attend this celebration and continue the good working relationship with city hall. to promote the chinese culture

and freedom and tradition. [speaking foreign language]

[applause] >> all right good evening everybody. i'm malconyoung representing the chinese chamber of commerce. our president wade apologizes he couldn't be here this evening. he's taking care of some important details. i want to everyone to give a big round of applause to all of the performers and especially the young people from gordon lau and dance team. i can tell you the lunchtime was well spent; right? and in really in all honesty because it's the young people that carry on our traditions that are really the next

generation that make sure we have the cultural identity so thank you very much. second repeat after me. [speaking foreign language] okay now you can all speak chinese as well as as joaquin. you know every year the chamber helps to organize the lunar new year parade and madam mayor you mentioned earlier there's so many things that make san francisco unique and special and the lunar new year parade is one of those things. it's the only night time lunar new year in the country, the largest one in the country and for those that have been in person you know it's a spectacle. you can't feel the magic. you can't feel the power of it unless you're standing on the ground with the

performers and it's going to be a beautiful, beautiful year. i want just to make sure to highlight some of the special things we're doing in this year of the dragon. we are introducing we're debuting a new green wood dragon so look out for that. that's going to be incredible. we have an amazing grand marshal this year, the hollywood actress aqua finna. but we want to show her that we do lunar new year way better than l.a. so all the hollywood people need to come up here to get the real thing and also i really want to say that we have an incredible number of performers and units this year, 122 to be expect. the number keeps going up and up and up and i mention this because the time and energy and dedication it takes to get ready for the parade is

something that folks do all year around so it's an incredible special moment and please pay attention to all of the units because they spend so much time on tnow the chamber organizes this thing but we don't put it o it's a community and city effort and first of all i want to thank the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers that come out to support the parade and you know it's a production. it's incredible. it takes a lot of person power and the volunteers make it happen. secondly i want to thank our city's leaders ma'am mayor, london breed for the support year in and year out. the city contributes funding to make it happen. that's really critical but the work of the department heads keeping us safe and clean and everything orderly. that's so important so thank you especially to the sheriffs, the

firefighters, san francisco police department and i know they're in commission right now. thank you to dpw for cleaning up afterwards. it's a big task and thank you for the transportation. for those going to the parade there's go through the new chinatown rose pac station and via that instead of driving and i want to invite everyone to the parade and it's going to be amazing and madam mayor we hope that you can call the weather service to make it a beautiful evening and we know you will help with that. thank you. >> thank you and now i would like to invite back up claudine cheng and the apa heritage foundation representatives for a special presentation to the mayor, mayor breed please join us on stage. yes, you mayor. we only have one mayor

here. . >> all right. so this is the year of the green wood dragon. i think we all know by now so we're very pleased -- we have many versions of the dragon and around town but we saw a very, very special and unique one. i would like to introduce our san francisco's own artist. her piece was really stunning and i think this year the community has chosen for commissioner to present this plaque to you mayor. it would look great in the mayor's office. [applause]

>> and maybe the commissioner would like to explain a little bit about this. maybe the artist would like to say a few words about this special piece. >> thank you so much. thank you so much for having me. i'm so excited here to present the year of the dragon art. this is a special piece because this is not generated by ai. i actually generate this -- i create this at work by hand on apple computer using adobe software. it symbolizes the innovation spirit of san francisco bay area where technology meets humanity and liberal art and the east meets

west and the tradition meets contemporary. i'm incredibly honor toed here and i echo every previous speaker and performers and i wish you all a happy lunar new year of the dragon. thank you so much. cheers. >> thank you. another round of applause. [applause] >> it certainly takes a village to create the celebrations across the city whether in the san francisco chinatown, in visitacion valley, sunset, excelsior, or ocean avenue and we see celebrations and thank all the committee members for the help, claudine cheng in particular for all of the work, some of the folks at city hall and rob and others who did an amazing job to support this event. we're going to have our final performance today and this is a real treat. this is a

dance from you know no nishia and will be performed by monali varaiya and this is performed for celebratory occasions in the temple. (performance)

[applause] >> i want to take a name to thank all the wonderful performers today. let's give them another big round of applause. [applause] >> thank you mayor breed for your tireless support of events like this that celebrate the richness of our community. i know events like this couldn't happen without your support and strong advocacy and thank you for your support. i to thank all the community partners to make this event possible and of course think claudine cheng and the people that do this on a yearly basis. a big round of applause. thank you. as malcolm said early year we're looking to see everyone at the lunar new year parade this year.

it's going to be a big fun parade. come out and celebrate the city we all love. for more information on events in the city go to our website. this concludes tonight's program. happy new year. thank you so much for joining us. [applause] culture. >> well to c h f a the society

of america here on a chinatown the district preserved and the history of chinatown with any person of any background is sketch plan or accepted for all people the founder help to create the studies and with a major collection on the objects that tell the material history of chinatown and so much is offend in chinatown incredible all the texture of the design a way to get from the east to the west and beyond that have an amazing institution like c h f a to >> i'm eric tanaka. fourth generation japanese american born and raised in san

francisco i work for the san francisco fire department station 10, truck 10 as a firefighter. i think about my journey i think about my family. my grandfather came to san francisco in 1917 we have been here for over 100 years. married my grand mother they were in the japanese camps. prior he was a successful business owner in the city. when he started to start over he was murdered. and i never met my grandfather. my grand mother and my mother were left to raise me, brother and sister my father was around but work. it was very challenging for me growing up as a young kid in the city. trying to find my identity. and so i got myself in a lot of trouble. trying to defend myself and my

heritage. that i was -- raised to be proud of. and there was a time i was ashamed. you know, thinking about and understanding my family's strug and he will had my grand mother and grandfather went through i was ignited a fire to keep moving forward. i decided to dedicate my life to service. servicing my family and community and the city. one of my goal in life is to reach out to our community youth and support them so they mack myself the potential to finds careers they never thought they were capable of. when i want my family tong of me i want to be proud. whenever career i chos is not about the money it is providing a life that is honorable and thoughtful. so that -- the generations behind us see how hard my family worked make sure we have been

able to sustain and thrive in san francisco. community is huge to me. it helped me become the person i am today. and our department. we got one of the busiest stations in the in addition, station 3. we have a surf rescue program program cliff rescue program. we have so many things to be proud of as a department. i can't say this enough, there is honestly no words to say how proud i am to work for the department and serve the community that i grew up in. [music] >> so i'm linda i'm part owner and manager of the paper tree in

jeopardy an town. >> paper tree opened by my parent in 1968. so we other second oldest business in jap an town. at 55 years this year. we have beautiful papers from japan, thailand, italy, korea and the biggest selection of orgami. i do it because of my grand father and he wrote to the first english in it in the early 50s. he had an import business to import japanese goods and of course we had our line of paper. to go with the books he produced. it is something i have been doing since i was 5 and i'm happy to say i'm a designer now and of course having paper tree. it is grit. >> during the pandemic i wanted do something to make a statement to help combat the asian hate

that was prevalent at that time. and so i put a call out to have a thousand hearts. this is a spin on the tradition of holding 1,000 cranes when you have a wish. well, a thousand cranes does not make a statement enough why not change it and a call for a thousand hearts? i created a website dedicated to the project. a video and fold heart instructions. people sent them in the first mont was 1,000 hearts. they kept coming in. and the next goal was 7, 698, which was the total number of case of reported hate by the ap i website. those were the reported case of hate. there are more not reported. that became the new goal. we achieved 2 months later. the hearts were coming in it it is a big project, we have it part of our store.

anyone can come and fold an easy heart. keeping that part of the japanese tradition of this in that way here in japantown is pretty special. its great.

chinatown. >> (music). >> welcome to san francisco historic chinatown a place with a past, present, and future merge with the street culture and cuisine join us as was take you on a journey. san francisco chinatown is a feeling testament of china's immigrants and arrived in 1950 during the gold

rush but hardship built a 35 community that served for generations. today san francisco chinatown is a burtonsville neighborhood brimming with history and culture. one of the highlights of this vibrant is worldwide can i intervene aim first and the oldest. we are known for handmade our claim to fame is our unique food and few places in the world. >> (speaking foreign language.) >> chinatown is a food louvers paradise with a rich engrave and cuisine. >> back requires and moon contacts and every fine dining.

>> welcome to (unintelligible). >> sandy spring /*. >> (speaking foreign language.) whether you're an ad veteran urban forester chinatown has something for everyone. >> chinatown is not just again food also a hub of creativity and take a stroll down the street with murals as culture exhibitions to celebrate the heritage of this city. >> what the sun sets schoun truly come alive. >> it's night life is old and

new a myriad of bars and you can distance the night away with friends. the museums and culture nonprofits play an important role in chinatown to teacher us about the past, present, and future and providing a platform for artist to engage in conversations and welcome to the china's holistic the mission so collect and preserve common council in america any person of my background can see themselves in chinatown for all people. and our founders help to create the studies. and usa with a was an amazing collector. chinatown center was founded no 1965 an

art center for infer served for people for education and the center is an exciting place for dialogue and engage with the actor right now have a exhibition present tense playground that looks the development of chinatown and also with the vast asian with taiwan and honk con. >> welcome to the square a new culture hub celebrating chinatown a gateway tell stories of chinatown the people here the culture and the history and past, present, and future all through arts and culture. that is a 35 community there is so many to see shopping and buy

food and suv inferiors and we welcome, everyone to come in and see what is going on here. >> so whether or not you're a history buff foodie an art person or simply looking for a night of excitement san francisco chinatown has something for you come and explore and experience the heart and the i soil of the private

>> [music] art withelders exhibiting senior art work across the bay for 30 years as part of our traveling exhibit's program. for this exhibits we partnered with the san francisco art's commission galleries and excited show case the array of artist in historic san francisco city hall. >> [inaudible]. call me temperature is unique when we get to do we, meaning myself and the 20 other professional instructors we are working with elders we create

long-term reps i can't think of another situation academically where we learn about each other. and the art part i believe is a launching pad for the relationship building:see myself well. and if i don't try when my mom again. she may beat the hell out of mow if i don't try >> seniors, the population encounters the problem of loneliness and isolation even in a residential community there hen a loss of a spouse. leaving their original home. may be not driving anymore and so for us to be ail to bring the classes and art to those people where hay are and we work with people in all walks of life and

circumstances but want to finds the people that are isolated and you know bring the warmth there as much as art skill its personal connection. men their family can't be well for them. i can be their fell and feel it. >> i don't have nobody. people say, hi, hi. hello but i don't know who they are. but i come here like on a wednesday, thursday and friday. and i enjoy. >> we do annual surveys asking students what our program does for them. 90 plus % say they feel less alone, they feel more engaged. they feel more socially connected the things you hope for in general as we age. right? >> and see when i do this.

i am very quiet. i don't have anybody here talking to me or telling me something because i'm concentrating on had i'm doing and i'm not talking to them. >> not just one, many students were saying the program had absolutely transformational for them. in said it had saved their lives. >> i think it is person to support the program. because i think ida elder communities don't get a lot of space in disability. we want to support this program that is doing incredible work and giving disability and making this program what supports the art and health in different way bunkham art as a way of

expression. a way of like socializing and giving artists the opportunity also to make art for the first time, sometimes and we are excited that we can support this stories and honor their stories through art. we hope the people will feel inspired by the variety and the quality of the creative expressions here and that viewers come, way with a greater appreciation of the richness what elders have to share with us. [music]

(clearing throat) >> great this meeting is reported and you may begin the retirement board meeting of wednesday, february 14, 2024. at this time. >> councilmember fosle present. >> vice president thomas thank you, we have quorum. >> first item. >> >> >>

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