>> all right, let's get going. a lot of smiles out here today. hi everybody my name is phil i'm the general managers of your san francisco recreation and parks department. and welcome to the city's newest park. so the, the mythical soccer

coach ted lasso likes to use the word believe. today we believe, we believe in the power of to transform challenging spaces. we believe in the power of several city agencies private partners, community benefit districts, nonprofits to come together to transform a space into something that is happy and hopeful. today, we believe. the anchor. [applause] the anchor of this new space, is a 13,000-square foot skating area. it is the nation's first of its kind street skating plaza at

this scale. you're going to hear from him in a little bit and you're going to see him when we cut the cover of one of our skate ramps, decide for skaters and actually includes elements from san francisco's legendary skating history, that used to be skated illegally. i learned in partner with the skate community, that san francisco if you didn't know, to be one of the best urban skate destinations anywhere. people come from around the world to skate san francisco. so why not skate here? we are, we are incorporating best practices from paris, from

barcelona about how to transform challenging difficult spaces into happy spaces. but of course, u.n. plaza this new park is not just about stating. --skating. there is something for every one. we've got chess, ping-pong, a couple of new games, tek ball. the tek balls over over there and demonstrating. a mix of faoz ball and ping-pong. we have a beautiful fitness studio and from tichi to rum ba. you can shop at the amazing farmers market. you can sit by the fountain which has been completely renovated with over 30 trees. you can hang out here in the morning, noon, or night.

and none of this, could have happened without our first speaker. an incredible supporter of parks and public space, somebody who gave us the room to be a little edgy. who had our back when the change haters starting yelling at us. she gave us room, she has our back. she is our very own, ted lasso, the mayor of san francisco, london breed. >> mayor london breed: thank you, phil. and i will start the use for a skate park rather than a supervisor meeting is a better use! but u.n. pla is a park and a place meant for people to enjoy themselves in so many different ways. before there was technology and cell phones and everything else you can think of, there is been

skating and chess and yes, checkers, i know checkers was not on the list but hopefully one day we'll get it out there soon. the ability for people to come together in these spaces and to have these opportunities, this is what bringing community together is all about. yes, it meant a bit of a change for the farmrs market. but i'm so happy that the farmers market is closer to city hall. so thank you to the folks who are part of the farmers market and the people who continue to support the farmers market that is just opened today just in case you want to get fresh vegetables and fruit. but here we are, today and i want to say to phil, thank you so much. let me tell you, he and i have been having discussion buzz u.n. plaza for a long time. and the staff and staff and

park rangers they've been working overtime. but nothing is going to make this more exciting than to see the skate community descend. and some of you may not believe that the mayor can be a skateboard fan. before i was not a elected official, i ran an arts organization and i remember when we worked with k dub and we created a number of sports, and spray painted and we made it an exciting place for community. and we want to do that here at u.n. plaza. we want this to be an exciting place for community. that includes the skateboard community, that includes those who think they are great at ping-pong and those who want to play chess or take one table to

play checkers and that includes the fitness center. thises how it should be rused, for the community, for the people that enjoy the park system and i'm so grateful so all the city workforce, to the toekz who helped with the climb walls and all the thaingz are going to be part of this wonderful community. i also want to give shout out to urban alchemy, to the ambassadors and so many of our city agency who's will ensure that this space is used for the purpose intended. so, [applause] thank you again, all of you and especially thank you to the skateboard community for your support and your patience. and also helping us design this place. because it was not about people who don't skateboard, it's about people who understand what they want to see. one of the things that bill said to me when he went over the details of this project. these are all the elements of

different parts of san francisco that are very popular in the skateboard community. we are bringing every element to u.n. plaza unlike ever before. so we look forward to seeing a vibrant area and exciting area and we thank the rec and park department for their excitement, their work in getting this done in record time. we started this project this year in san francisco and finished it this year, that is fast for bureaucratic years! so congratulation sxz thank you all for being here. [applause] >> thank you, coach, i mean mayor. all right, before our next speaker. there is going to be a lot of acknowledgments, it's been said that victory has many parents and there are a lot of parents declaring victory today. but i want to acknowledge a few of our, a few special partners and person for our speakers without this would not be possible.

first of all, thank you, thank you, thank you to the civic center and executive fearless tracy. tracy you and you and your team it's been an amazing partnership. bill, thank you for giving tracy the ability to run and bill, for this civic center. [applause] and then even she is really a parky at heart, this morning, she was just announced as the new permanent director of public works, my partner my partner in good on this project and getting back to believe. believe, folks that city agency kz tear down those silos, work together and not squabble over who is paying for what, but just get it done. that's the valley that the

mayor has infused in her city department and one where carla and i and several other city departments who are going to be singled out in a minute, we infuse it in this project. carla short, thank you so much! [applause] and then last but not least, this had to get built. and as the mayor said, it got built fast. and that means there is a project manager out there that did not sleep, a little more hunch over and did. and it's not me. i don't really know how to do that. the next person i want to celebrate from rec and park, dan mar who ran this project.

where is he at? [applause] all right, what we've got here is a skate park that is a worldwide destination but also a local park and a local park for a very important community and the next two speakers are going to talk about how important this space is to the neighborhood and local community. first up, my friend, a fierce advocate. >> good morning, i've been working with tenderloin, working with residents who work with increasing housing resident and housing clinic for a long time and calling for u.n. plaza to be a safe and open place. i'm excite today see the transformation of u.n. plaza to

positive useable space which for few years, you've seen it as a problematic area. where the u.n. plaza has turned out to be a place where open air drug dealing, vending and also drug use. thank you. the u.n. plaza is surrounded by various neighborhoods. and people who work around, surrounding areas, use u.n. plaza not only to be here but to get public transportation and also to go from one place to another. i in all of my years of working in tenderloin and advocating for open space, i know one thing for sure. that is a open space has to be a defined open space if not it wouldn't be a positive one. and i have to say, you guys have seen it for years, for almost a couple of years now, the dog park which is right

around the corner and it was an open space but once it became a dog park, there are a lot of dogs that go there. so when it's designated it's safer and much easy to use. i have to say, thank you, phil, for implementing this designated use of u.n. plaza and i'm looking forward to have this positive not just for this place but also for surrounding neighborhoods. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, fortiba. next up, also representing this community, is the chancellor of uc law formerly called hastings, right there. this is that community's front yard now and uc law in addition to all the students and faculty, just cut a ribbon on 670 new housing. this is your part. >> thank you, phil, thank you,

mayor breed. let me just say, it's an honor to be here. good morning p i thought i was going to be invited because of my skateboarding ability but that's clearly not the case and it would move up any knee surgery, i need. this is our front yard. we have for more than 50 years, been in that building with 270 units. and of course we occupy the entire block. we have what we call an academic village and the academic village that just opened this august, that mayor breed graciously came to the ribbon cutting. we are putting together a collaboration of universities in the bay area. so one-third of the 656 units of housing will be occupied by

ucsf but also open to san francisco state, uc davis, berkeley graduate program, university of pacific dental school and we're creating an opportunity to bring all of these graduate communities together. and we want to be in partnership with the city of san francisco with the tenderloin neighborhood. we want to have, if you look at our new buildings, they're all glass. we want to be open to. we want our clinics, our centers to work with the local community. i hell you what, i was visit withing one of our partner units and we were up in what we call the sky room which is on the 24th floor of the building that is going to be renovated. and one of the dean said, you know the neighborhood looks really good from up here. and i thought, it does look really good from up here. but we want to make it look good down here and we're committed to that partnership and we're committed to this neighborhood in this community.

i'm thrilled part of this celebration. i'm not much with the skateboarder but i'm good with a ping-pong battle so i challenge anybody that wants to play me in ping-pong, let's do it. thank you very much. great to see you. [applause] >> this next speaker, one of our part nrz who knows full well that parks are full end solution to public safety and he's been the champion every step of the way. we almost talk daily for almost six months now, our police chief, bill scott. [applause] >> thank you, phil. i just want to start with saying thank you to mayor breed and phil ginsburg, this would not happen without their vision and their support. i've got a lot of people to thank, so my few minutes will be thanking people.

i want to thank all of our city partners. with the mayor's leadership and partnership, we opened the drug market coordination center. and all the city departments representing the work that went into this, i want to say thank you. dr. grant, at dph and his team. [applause] that's right. sheriff yamimoto and his team. dr.er sharaoen and her team. fire chief and her team. chief crystal and bro basing team, they're out here. we have deputy chief scott, my cousin, no we're not cousins, bart police and his team. who am i missing? we have the park rangers and where is chief murphy and his team? [applause] dem, and mayor alan carol and her team.

but most importantly, the community members. the community members who hold us accountable who push us and a lot of you are out here. we spend so much time meeting and talking and trying to plan and really, sometimes deservedly so, taking a lot of heat about what we're going to do to make this space better and make this community better. and this is a first step, but let's not let it be the last step because we have more work to do. and i just want to say also to dean and the u.s., uc a team and many of you are out here. and those biweekly meet that'sing we have, i think we've been having them for couple of years, this is what we meet for. we meet to make progress and this is real progress. so as i close, i want to say a couple of things. the mayor mentioned this and i want to reiterate. this is a beautiful space, we are commit today keeping it a

beautiful place. last niem phil ginsburg called me late last night and we talked about for about 30-45 minutes about what is next. how do we keep this space beautiful. how do we keep this place safe? we're not done yet. we still have challenges. we have a whole community and we're committed to doing that. thank you all for being here and thank you all for your support. thank you, mayor for your leadership. >> okay, now we got the stars of the show, we're coming down to it. next up, from our skate community, we've got sean connolly, and chico brenis, tell us what you think, guys! come on up. >> hey, what's up, everybody? >> i'm going to read this off my phone.

i wrote a little something special to me to be part of this. so i really appreciate it. sorry. to no end, sion william gains, peppy mono, spence cer, po blo ramirez, trevor prescott, jake phelps, basto, botelo, eric swanson and mark dillard. [applause] i say these names in remembrance and also as a reminder of how short life is. it seems like yesterday i was here to take advantage of all you can eat hot cakes before 8:00 am at the carl's junior over there. make sure you don't lose your receipt.

i'm extremely honored to speak at this opening ceremony, a skate spot for some of us. although it may seem like an exaggeration, is another way of saying home. when i lived up the street, my apartment was very small. at that time, i could navigate the sidewalks and city streets as i wished. as a matter of fact, i used to warm up on the same black marble benches right over there besinger as i made my way down to embarcadero. like most did and now referred to as the mid-90s, but there is a lot of youth out there that live just up the street and they're too young for this to be an option and do whatever you want to do. for kids like that, they live in densely populated regions like this, they're space is shared with the entire city. for many of us skateboarding is a lifelong passion, but try to

tell this to somebody when you ask them to move a bench when they look at you and they look like they have not eaten in a week. i'm coresponder of, we wanted create a space that never existed before. a welcoming location where skateboarding brings us together. but this is another example of that, a place where people come together with a like minded passion. day after day, it becomes our home. identify like to acknowledge and give a shout out to the city just for building spots like this. after losing a lot of our plazas, and open public spaces like embarcadero, the main library, as it used to be, brown marble and bay blocks and appear, it's excite to go see a location in the middle of the city dedicated to us. [applause]

keep working, keep striving, and keep drawing. fall down 7 times, get up 8. thanks. [applause] >> hello everybody i'm chico brenis. what's up. first of all, i want to say thank you to the city and everybody involved for makering this happen. it truly was made in record time. about three months when the first time i heard about it and now we're skating this. the crazy thing, is i grew up down here back in the 90s, that was the mecca of skateboarding back then. that's where i practiced all of my skills and craft after school, weekends and summer. it's also where i met lifelong friends, that to this day i'm connected to and close with. i'm sure this is going to do the same for the youth and for our community.

thank you skateboarding and let's shred, man! [cheers and applause] >> all right, we're almost there. everybody has been waiting a long time. we're going to get that inaugural grind, behind us. and this is a nod to very famous, to pueblo po bl* ic in paris. but still for grad you'd and it would be wrong not to acknowledge so bear with me, i'm going to call out the institutions and not the people so that we can get to the skating. but our profound thanks goes to the folks at 11 market. 83 can do street association. asian art museum, bart, the central city collaborative, civic secondary school, the department of emergency management, delux distribution especially andy pets, the

federal government, fitness zone, heart of the city fitness market. the l.a. who are doing the demonstration over there. mechanic that is programming chess, mo magic, the fitness campaign. thank you. ray studios, rns construction, thank you matt ramirez, sf adult probation, sf library, mta, the parks alliance, sf planning, police, the skate club, symphony, the department of public health, the sheriff's department, the state of california, general services administration, the tenderloin clinic, thrasher, trinity plaza, uc law school, at mazing men and women at urban alchemy, the y*u w w*i school and many many more. special shout out one last time, to our own staff.

i want to thank our commissioners for being here. commissioner kerry windtrap among others. to the amazing staff and barber who put this event for us today. let's do it! thank you.

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