>> good afternoon everyone. ladies and gentlemen, welcome. i am miriam, the chief of city and county of san francisco, and it is my absolute honor to extend our heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for being here with us as we commemorate the endureing 45 years between san francisco and shanghai. welcome to mayor gong and his entire delegation from shanghai. we are so thrilled to have you here in

san francisco. we have a tight program here for you, and very exciting one, so without further ado, it is my pleasure to welcome our one and only mayor london breed. mayor. [applause] i apologize. [speaking chinese] [applause] >> good afternoon everybody.

good afternoon! first of all, let me say welcome to mayor gong and his entire delegation and thank you to our consul general who consistently is on the for front insuring that the u.s. china relationships remain strong and in tact. president she, visited san francisco as many know back in apec and highlighted the people, the people relationships that are important to insuring that our countries and our people are thriving, but more importantly, the san francisco vision. we know that san francisco is a gateway to the asian pacific and what happens in our city changing our entire counry and the world, so those people to people relationships are extremely important. it is why it is my honor to welcome so many of you here to city hall

to celebrate 45 years of the san francisco and shanghai sister city relationship. [applause] [speaking chinese]

[applause] >> mayor gong, we are very fortunate in san francisco to have a very thriving chinese community in our city, and in fact, what you see here today is a representation of business leaders, of those who own their own small businesses, of commissioners, of people who work in the tech industry, of folks who established not just political organizations, but non profit organizations that are helping

to make a difference in the communities all over san francisco. gegraphcally many joining us today live in all parts of san francisco. chinatown is a important part of the community, but there are people representing the west side of the city including taraval, richmond and innersunset and various neighborhoods that make up the fabric of our city. [speaking chinese]

this is community that is not also just involved in the work that they do personally, but so many of them give back to organizations that help to make the community better. i'm looking around and if i start naming names i might get in trouble, but all most every person here is not only successful as maybe an attorney, a business owner, or a publisher or a newspaper, but they are public servants serving the city and county of san francisco as commissioners, but also serving on the board of directors for a number of organizations that help to support and uplift so many

people throughout san francisco, including our young people and our seniors. [speaking chinese]

today, as we sign the memorandum of understanding to recommit ourselves after an historical 45 year relationship, it is important for us to highlight the specific things that we will focus on to renew that commitment. now, when this agreement was signed 45 years ago, at that time, technology was not what it is today and we are excited to really focus on the need to continue to develop our relationships around technology, sustainability, and the environment, and in highlights that people to people relationship insuring there are exchanges between our student populations, including our students who are both in high school and college. in fact, because that

relationship, we will be sending 10 public high school students to shanghai during the month of july to continue to grow and develop the extraordinary relationship that is existed for the past over past four decades. [applause] [speaking chinese]

you will be hearing from her in just a moment, but i want to take this opportunity to truly thank daphne for her extraordinary work with shanghai sister city and all she did to make our trip to shanghai success and make this trip in our relationship and the signing of the mou success as well. [applause] [speaking chinese]

again recollect i want to thank all for joining us. we have a few other speakers and i at this time i like to turn it back over to chief of protocol to introduce, mayor gong. [applause] [speaking chinese] >> it is my distict pleasure to introduce mayor gong of shanghai. mayor gong, thank you for honoring us with your presence. we are delighted to have you and your delegation here in san

francisco. for this momentus occasion, celebrating our relationship of our two cities, and for us to have the opportunity to resipicate for your hospitality while we had our visit in shanghai, thank you. [speaking chinese] welcome to mr. gong. [speaking chinese] [applause]

>> [speaking chinese] >> honorable mayor breed, consul nob ladies and gentlemen , good afternoon. >> [speaking chinese] >> gives me great pleasure to lead delegation to san francisco. one month after mayor breed's visit to shanghai. the moment we arrived here, the very attractive scenery of the city and

inviting atmosphere make us feel very homecoming so on behalf of the shanghai municipal people government i extend greetings to community in san francisco and also want to thank the san francisco government for the arrangement and hospitality. >> [speaking chinese] >> we often say the more friends, the closer they get. in the san francisco is shanghai first sister city in the united states and we carried active and extensive collaboration and in this process over the years as we learn from each other, we grow together too.

>> [speaking chinese] >> a theme of our era. as we know san francisco, has strong economgic technological power and one of the world's major technology, business and cultural centers rchlt shanghai is china biggest economic powerhouse and striving to make the city is a international economic, financial, trade, shipping invasion center. we accelerated at efforts to turn

shanghai into a metropalist with worldwide impact. >> [speaking chinese] >> with signing of this new mou we hope we can enhance our cooperation in economy and trade, culture and education to arrive a new chapter of our friendship. >> [speaking chinese] >> i wish san francisco a very bright future and i also wish that the friendship between our two cities is strong and blended as the golden gate bridge. thank you. >> thank you!

[applause] >> thank you very much mayor gong. it is new my pleasure to have the opportunity to introduce consul general zang. he is a advocate and friend to our city and played a crucial role in fostering diplomatic relationships between our city and countries and truly understand the importance of people to people exchanges. >> [speaking chinese]

>> consul general. >> thank you so much for your kind words. dear mayor breed, dear mayor gong, madam [indiscernible] dear friends, good afternoon. it is my great honor to join you attending this soon to be signing ceremony. san francisco and shanghai were the first major chinese and american cities to enter the sister city relationship. [indiscernible] a lot has been accomplished. with the signing of the mou for a new round of cooperation, i think we can have a lot more to look forward to. the better is yet to come. san francisco is also where san francisco vision was developed. as a result of the successful summit

between president--and president biden. when the vision is formulated it is up to all of us to take action to translate san francisco vision into reality and i think both mayor breed and mayor gong have set very good examples for us by exchanging visits within a month. mayor breed was in shanghai last month and this month we welcome mayor gong to san francisco. i think this is very meaningful action to turn the vision into reality and to follow through on what our two presidents agreed. i really hope more chinese and american mayors will follow their example. the more visits take place, the better our relationship. before i conclude, i want to say, two years ago today, i started my journey to san francisco to take my

position as chinese consul general. over the past 2 years i worked hard and i have gone through challenges, so i like to take this opportunity to express my heartful felt gratitude to mayor breed, city hall, people represented here from all walks of life being in san francisco. thank you for your support. my colleagues and i and the consulate are committed and will double our efforts to make our relationship better and stronger. thank you. >> thank you. it is now my pleasure to introduce daphne fang, who is the chair of our sister city committee. she has been tirelessly working to bring us all together as part

of the process of the mou which you will witness very very soon, but she has been really an advocate and a friend and as mayor mentioned, has worked very hard to support all our efforts. daphne, thank you so much and please a round of warm welcome for daphne fang. [applause] [speaking chinese]

[applause] >> thank you. thank you miriam. i congratulate consul general for your anniversary. thanks for all your great work you have bring to san francisco in the two country relationship. [speaking chinese] as our mayor said, thank you

and your teams hospitality, which have made our shanghai visit truly unforgettable. that is why you saw many up here, in shanghai about a month ago. we like to come back here to welcome you to visit the city of san francisco. >> [speaking chinese]

>> as part of the gift you give us, was the 10 high school students to participate in summer and you heard from our mayor, in the last four weeks we made that happen and they will go in july to visit shanghai. >> [speaking chinese] >> this will pave the way for enhance the cultural understanding power of friendship across the board in the

generations. >> [speaking chinese] >> i would like to extend my deepest gratitude to miriam--[indiscernible] in the last 4 weeks the great work make this happen. >> [speaking chinese] >> we also like to thank

[indiscernible] united air lines for their support. >> [speaking chinese] >> we are here to witness the signing of a mou that will further strengthen the true sister city future of mutual growth, exchange and business collaborations. >> [speaking chinese] >> i would like to thank mayor breed for your vision and your leadership and we--san francisco shanghai sister city committee will continue our dedication to support the two greatest

cities, two greatest mayors. >> [speaking chinese] >> now, we like to invite all the mayors and come up and signing of the mou. >> [speaking chinese] [applause]

>> good morning. welcome to the sales force transit center. what a great day it is today. i'm jeff ge, the chair of joint power authority, tjpa. thank you for joining us here today as we celebrate a major milestone for the decades long vision of the transbay program. bringing caltrain to the sales force transit center and ultimately the california high speed rail into its northern terminus in downtown san francisco throughout the portal. today marks a momentous

milestone for the portal with the federal transit administration advancement of the project into engineering face of capital investment grants program and committing to federal share of $3.4 billion to its construction. [applause] this brings the project to 2/3 funded. the funded commitment proceeding by $500 million from president fy25 budget proposal. the portal is the final component to be delivered through the transformational transbay program, which ushered in a wholesale expansion and modernization of downtown san francisco and created the largest multi-modal transit hub in the western united states.

as i look out across the grand hall this morning, ypt i want to take a moment to recognize the partners instrumental getting where we are today. in addition to the speakers on stage this morning, projects of this scale and magnitude require many skillful hands. not only the 10s of thousands of skilled tradesman and women who constructed this magnificent building-- [applause] -- but the architects, policy makers, funders, political leaders and countless staff who insured was funded and would get built. i like also to make a shout out to honorable willie brown and former state senator and congressman john burton for their vision and their relentlessness getting the transbay program

underway and constructing the sales force transit center. [applause] yes. as a current chair of the transbay joint power authority i want to recognize fellow board members and are project partners working tirelessly and collaboratively on the portal. supervisor mandelman helped secure the passage of prop l, extension of san francisco half cent sales tax for transportation securing $300 million for the portal. also see fellow board members board president ceo alicia john baptiste and caltrans district 4 director dina and district asirsant deputy director david [indiscernible] northern california regional director high speed rail [indiscernible] san francisco

county transportation authority executive tilly chang. executive director alex [indiscernible] and caltrain executive director michelle brushard. thank you all for being here. [applause] looking across the crowd, we probably have assembly member phil ting and city attorney david chui, jim wonderman, all who lead countless efforts on the local, regional and state levels to create a more seemless transit network and secure additional transportation funds including for the portal project. as i mentioned earlier, $3.4 billion, this commitment links two other major federal investments. the already constructed two level train box beneath us waiting for caltrain to come to downtown san francisco.

the other major project that i'm very proud of as director and past chair of caltrain, is the electrification which achieves substantial completion earlier this month. [applause] an electifyed caltrain, quieter, faster, more sustainable connection between san francisco and silicon valley. huge investments into the region that will make a huge difference for the san francisco bay area. and i think about the train box underneath us. i want to take a moment to recognize our steadfast champions, speaker emeritus pelosi. [applause] in 2010, she was the driving force behind the obama administration decision to provide $400

million to build the train box through the american reinvestment and recovery act funding the propelled economic activity and put people back to work during the great recession. with the train box built, it is no longer a matter of if, but when rail service will come into the transit center. with the $3.4 billion commitment, we can continue to work in ernest with our partners on the federal, state, regional and local levels to deliver on the portal. as i wrap up, i want to thank our tjpa staff, our partners and supporters because they are all here today for all that you have done to get us to where we are today and are for joining us in the celebration of this momentus milestone. we still have a lot of work to do but with the support of all you and others, we will get the job done!

[applause] it is my honor and pleasure to introduce california state senator, scott wiener. [applause] >> thank you chair gee. this is incredibly exciting. for those of us who have been working on regional transportation funding for many many years, this is one of those visionary projects. sometimes you commit to do it, but it is so big in scale and seeing these huge milestones is just incredibly powerful, so congratulations and thank you to the entire tjpa family, the staff, the board, to all the workers who make this possible, thank you. and thank you to speaker pelosi

for never geving up on the transportation future of san francisco and bay area. there have been a lot of nay sayers in the last few years. there are always nay sayers, but the nay sayers have been a little louder in the last few years. they have been very loud in criticizing and denigrating san francisco. it never went away and coming back strong and i'm so optimistic about the future of san francisco, including our downtown and we are really in so many ways in the heart of it and this is just incredibly exciting for the future of this neighborhood, future of san francisco and the future of the bay area, which is very very bright. the nay sayers not with standing. we also heard a lot of nay saying about transportation projects and claiming never going to happen and that is just

false. high speed rail is going to happen. this project is happening and i am very very excited about what that means for our city and for our region. and what it means is that, this region is going to be more and more tightly connected and integrated. the era of having different parts of the bay area that aren't that attached to each other is ending and we are moving towards a truly integrated and seemless bay area public transportation system and particularly a rail system where you will be able to be in pretty much any part of the bay area and be able to hop on a train and in a very seemless way connect to another system if you need to and get where you are going and not have to drive and not have to worry about it and that's what this is about. we are-this is going to be the beating

heart that integrating seemless regional rail system and that is incredibly exciting and so so grateful to the federal government and speaker pelosi for making this happen. i also just are want to say and would be remiss if i didn't that, building all this transportation infrastructure is incredibly important and without it, we can't operate our transit system. but it is not enough and we have to make sure that all the amazing public transportation systems that will be feeding into this building in such a robust way, that we keep them strong. that they have the funding and the support that they need to actually operate on a day to day and year to year basis and we have been doing that work from the state level. it is happening locally and regional, so we have to make sure as we do the capital investment we support these incredibly important public

transportation system which are so important for our city and region. congratulations to everyone. it is now my honor to bring up someone who has been just a great champion for public transportation and this is a incredible cheerleader for bringing san francisco back, the mayor of san francisco, london breed. [applause] >> thank you senator. speaking of cheerleading, you all don't look as excited as you should for $3.4 billion! goodness, madam speaker! bringing home the bacon. this brings us 2/3 of the way towards completely doing what is necessary to insure that this portal is an opportunity for 11 different kinds of transit options in the bay area!

it is a big deal! i remember the old station, so that's why i'm really excited, because i used to take gray hound when i was at uc davis and it was not pretty and look where we are now. look how far we have come, and i am hopeful. you would think that something like this would have already existed in san francisco and working with the tjpa for the past 30 years now to really make this vision a reality, it will be something extraordinary. you go to places like new york and other places around the country who have robust transportation networks, i am typically inviious, the cities are not usually as beautiful as san francisco but transit is extraordinary and we are taking one step further to insure we are addressing a transportation challenge that

exists in san francisco connectivity. people are talking about the downtown of san francisco now more then ever, and we have a commitment, 30 by 30 to bring 30 thousand residents to our downtown by 2030, but because of the portal, we have already brought 15 thousand residents and more to come. downtown cannot be a 9 to 5. it has to be offices, housing and places for people to enjoy, because it is a real neighborhood with a park right above our heads that we can enjoy on any given day. that is the future. [applause] that is the future and it takes strong advocacy, visionary leadership, and someone who just will not give up and is relentless in not only paving our democracy, but also making sure that she is taking care of san

francisco every time she steps on the floor of the house of representatives. i want to say madam speaker, thank you so much for all that you have done and continue to do to invest in and support and uplift san francisco. we appreciate you so much. [applause] and let me also thank our president, joe biden and the secretary of the department of transportation, pete--i get a call from him every time there is money, because there has been a lot of money. not $3.4 billion money, but million dollar money coming into san francisco for our transportation projects, and because i think he was a former mayor, he is always calling me as a mayor to say, hey mayor and i'm like hey, mayor secretary and letting us know, we are committed to san francisco and will invest in san francisco and appreciate his leadership and the president

leadsership and all he does. i finally want to give a shout out to the hands that will continue to build this project into the future, the community of labor including the building and construction trade. [applause] as well as laborers and others. we appreciate their work and advocacy and now at this time i like to introduce from the building and construction trades, rudey gonzalez. [applause] >> thank you madam mayor. thank you for your leadership and introduction. good morning. i want to second the mayor's energy, because this is a moment of celebration. while many will lean towards the bureaucratic and technical tendency and look at schematics and slide deck jz i see my good friend bruce from community advisory committee and everyone is talking what's tomorrow, what's tomorrow. let's take a moment and celebrate today. let's be in awe of this

beautiful struck ture and recognition we find in the local economy. not withstanding the backdrop what is happening federally. let's be clear, secretary pete will not call you if they make a mistake this november. mire job representing blue collar workers is tell it like it is. if we do not vote in november we will have the billions and will not center the jobs and critical infrastructure 250 keep our country moving. we are enjoying a renaissance in infrastructure. saying good-bye a time infrastructure was a bad word. when it divided communities and lifted up systems of oppression. people thriving multigenerational communities, now infrastructure is a good word. it is a clean word. a green word. it means good jobs for our

communities. it means health yer outcomes and more access to housing, right senator? more access to public transportation and this isn't tomorrow. let's celebrate, this is today! there are bus lines, there are bus operators there are building service employees. i did a ground floor walk before we came in, and it may be scary to say, construction workers at 10 a.m. out-number office workers 3 to 1, but i went through charley and are there were 3 electricians and so 2 operating engineers and i was walking out and there were hard hats at phil's coffee. when you put money in thpockets of blue collar workers we spends money where we have our jobs. i'm grateful and excited because this is a thriving piece of community infrastructure from the park on the top floor to the otherwise dark and quite train box, i look forward to a time we

can all celebrate downstairs. many stories downstairs in a mezzanine level of 50 thousand square feet of retail and good jobs that come in with and i also know people across the country are counding on us to deliver the project and counting on all you to vote in november because 47 out of 50 states, when you think material suppliers and other vendors, 47 out of 50 states in the country actually enjoyed economic vitality because of the first phase of this project. we had 16500 in the first phase and 60 thousand across the country fill the impact of phase 1dtx. the portal will bring twice that much and twice that much to the nation so excited to be here. it is intermodal transportation. it is intermodal cooperation. we have leaders from all over the community and i'm proud to say

that san mateo county is in the house. give it up for san mateo county. we have regional trade partners. regional workers. to the skilled and trained hands that built the first phase, this is the promise of putting our members back to work. we will not let people trash downtown. we will not let people speak poorly of san francisco. we are the city that knows how and we have a skilled and trained workforce whether engineers, operators, labors, electricians, plumbers pipefitters we have a workforce ready to deploy and ready for phase 2. if we do what we are supposed to do in november i hope to stand here once again and have the privilege inviting up to the stage someone who talks the talk, walks the walk, walk that walk more energeticly then-understand these commitments can not be talking points. these commitments have to be

accompanied by votes because let's face facts, we had people prior speakers of the republican hell house speak out against funding for projects like this. make public promise and commitment to roll back every prevailing wage job in california and do away with high speed rail. they were certainly happy when it passed because there were plenty pet projects to fund, but we must remember in november and go to the polls like our lives and democracy depend on it and i know i will sleep better knowingory congressional representative is one and only nancy pelosi. thank you for your vision and commitment. >> thank you all. thank you very much rudey for not only your kind introduction, but your great leadership on the building trades. yes, today is cause for celebration. thank you mr. mayor for

bringing us together and framing the purpose of today and history of it and the future of it. thank you. let's hear from mr. mayor mayor gee. and of course the chair of the tjpa board. adam thank you very much. i don't know if adam was acknowledged. adam vanderwater the executive director of the transbay joint power authority. [applause] thank you adam. adam and are i have shall we say enthusiasms we discuss from time to time. all of you understand this, we have a transit oriented president of the united states. every day for decades he took the train from delaware to washington and back. when we talk to him about high speed rail and mass transit he said, you don't have to tell me, i'm the high speed rail president. we'll give you a opportunity to prove that and he did.

our infrastructure bill which we passed under his leadership. and you should know, i'll take this opportunity to tell you, in it because something rudey said about justice and not dividing communities, he had 40 percent of the bill dedicated to justice, to equity, to despairty, to have many more people included in the decision making on projects as well as the participation in the workforce. we had no intention of fighting for big money for allocation then if it was not going to have project labor agreements. it would not have prevailing wage for our workers. he understood that. [applause] and the jobs created by the construction not here, but

10,000 fresno building, that part of high speed rail, but we are talking about san francisco. madam mayor, when you get a call from secretary--and he is informing you of a project, take it as a big not only notification, but a complement, because all those projects are competed for and when we put in for the competition, we show san francisco is in the forefront. that san francisco is a model for the nation and that is not just about us saying we need this, we need that, it is about showing off what is happening here. thank you madam mayor for your leadership because we wouldn't get the money just because we fight harder. we get the money because we are better and again, a model to the nation in every one of those categories. of course those categories beyond transportation, so san

francisco rules. it is just an example. sometimes i think people are just jealous and they have to be the nay sayer. senator wiener, we don't pay attention to nay sayers. that's their problem. understand what is happening here. i'm glad john burton was acknowledged, because this project was his-i remember the dedication day, we had to wear boots that day because we were under construction. you see the beautiful artwork that goes with it. you see that is so lovely, but the art has been part of the transportation piece too elevating it so it is very positive experience for people and a demonstration of the completeness of san francisco and the contribution to the effort. okay, so here it is, mass transit, but take it beyond that to high

speed rail. this is about saving the planet. it is about clean air. it is about people. it is about quality of the air. it is about quality of the life. quality of people not having to be in cars for long stents adding to pollution, but none the less getting to and from work more quickly. adding time to their lives. and it is about housing that people can come from places where housing may not be as expensive as it is and where workforce is and your district silicon valley and san francisco, but housing can be more affordable to them at a place that is not a 3 hour commute each day, but much much shorter. so it is about quality of life, quality of air, housing, so many things. it certainly is about the jobs and building the initiative, right? thousands of jobs and building

it, but it is also about the commerce that is produced and the jobs for the future. as you said, it is not just about today, it is about how we go forward and we will--california will be-has been and continue to be, but on the high speed rail, a model for the rest of the country. in other countries, i have been to high speed in china and are japan, all the rest, there is a-i was on a project in china, a town on the coast is about 3 hours from beijing, equivalent going to fresno. i wanted to see the city because they were making--few years ago, and [indiscernible] we go there, we arrive, the conductor announces, we have arrived, 29 minutes and 30 seconds. less then a half hour he was

bragging. that can commute. they can commute, so just think of the opportunity it presents families for jobs, for education, for visiting each other, for being together as the mayor said, connectivity in every way. this is a big deal. [laughter] [applause] i didn't use the president expression, but you get it, right? it is about good paying jobs in san francisco, convenient modern mixed use, commercial development, transit friendly neighborhood with 4,000 environmentally friendly areas. just read you some of this. smart sustainable design. again, under the leadership of the biden/harris administration, major steps and multimodal transportation. mayor, you know we had the celebration of electrification is a big deal. how can you say--any

metaphor--it is just something remarkable that just takes us to another place, and [indiscernible] now kevin [indiscernible] all so much a part that celebration. senator wiener, again, in dc when we compete for the funds, it isn't about our excellence, but it is about our shall we say, determination that is going to happen and they want to see, what is the state going to do and thank you for what you have done and the state's role in this. see what the city is going to do. we have a expression, it sounds crude, but--you can handle it i think. we say, when we want to allocate money, we want to see dirt fly. we don't want to go to court. we don't want to go to this--we have to have our act together, so that when the

money comes, the process can go forward. i think that happily with all of this for all the [indiscernible] i associate myself with all the steps along the way that we will happily see dirt fly. in addition to that, i always say to all of you, you talked about the construction workers, the architects, the business, the construction, all the rest that, when it comes to transportation, whether it is about clean air, quality of life, quality of air, housing, commerce and all the rest, when it comes to transportation, our hopes are riding on you. thank you all so much for what you all did to make this happen. [applause]

>> speaker pelosi, mr. gonzalez, senator wiener, mayor breed, thank you all for being here. thank you for celebrating this momentus occasion. i want to conclude and say, let's get ready and let's make dirt fly! thank you for being here! [applause]