housing development, the opportunity to put over 900,000 square feet of new retail in the sites. a new hotel will be out here, along with 2.5 million square feet of research and development space to anchored this item. we are trying to provide a catalyst for the green technology revolution, the

entire state and country, and over $83 million set aside for community dollars. we have said strong to vote for this project led by incredible work, faith, competency, and devotion for half their life. sophie maxwell deserves some credit for steering this process along to all of you here. >> thank you all for all of you have done. we have to continue to be vigilant. yes, we have got a good plan, but we all have to be there to make sure it happens. thank you. >> $84 million will go to pay and assistance loans and other commitments, all kinds of commitments codified in this legislation, including

commitments that are part of this project. community leaders, faith based leaders making this possible. i can honestly go on. it is not intentional, it is just limiting our amount of time. hats off to speaker nancy pelosi and dianne feinstein. $515 million of bonds the government to clear up the shipyard. we are getting serious about it.

7 and $14 million has been drawn down, and they deserve tremendous credit for making that happen finally, and michael cohen, it could not have happened without him at the mayor's office of workforce development. supervisors have come and gone to help with the proposition and get voters to approve that. help us with a framework for conception and agreement. a proud moment in a proud history, promoted and promised. we want to promote a cleaner and

more sustainable future as a planet. $11 billion increases in property taxes. $6.6 billion. at the end of the day, it is about human beings and real people. branting take shape -- financing takes shape in the southeast sector. this is another thing i'm proud of that we are able to support, and that is great, great news. also, 522.2 million, balancing

the budget without raising taxes, laying off firefighters, expanding health care. we have invested money to repay our streets. this is a remarkable story, and i do not know if this story is being told and other cities, but there is oakland, the firefighters in san jose. a lot can be done. thank you to john avalos and all the memebrs -- members of the board who have worked

collaboratively to help budget get passed. it is a remarkable budget, and most notably there is a kindergarten-to-college framework that got support and the budget, allowing us to the together a savings account. this is the first city ever to do this, and i have always believed that if you can stoke

the expectation of a young child that they can go to college, their community leaders and parents will sure that expectation that everything is possible and that is what it is about. i thank them for all their great work in the private sector. thank you for the great work and an outstanding job moving forward. a lot of good work is done collaborative would. and thank you to naval. would not be here without them. we simply could not have done

this had that foundation not been laid. thank you for stepping up and contributing. this is why we're able to keep the community open, libraries open, and other health clinics open. it is because of public employees. thank you to all of the folks that came together with this. pec, public employees committee, just did an extraordinary job.

we were able to announce a 61% restoration. there would not have been cuts at the not been concessions for every other public employee. roughly a 6% increase that pushed us back in terms of deficit. it was inevitable as a trade- off.

now with the restoration, the light rail, services started from 178,000 services putting us in a pat of commitment that is crucial, crystal clear to get these things restored. we will have a plan in december to get us there and look at augmenting other lines. i'm not talking about having exactly the same service. we have got to modernize this according to real utilization patterns and look at making augmentations. that is the commitment of this administration.

75% performance this year. new quarter numbers could put us up with the highest performance we have ever had in history. we need to raise it. so that is the good news for the week. this is the biggest redevelopment budget in our city's history. it is a difficult backdrop and difficult circumstances. but we're working across the table for collective bargaining

so we can benefit from good news and provide a little bit of relief but service cuts. -- with service cuts. a little bit of reasonable good news. have a great week. >> good morning. i am the executive director of the transportation authority. your emcee for the event. it brings me tremendous pleasure to welcome you all, notable

visitors, elected officials to the event which is the groundbreaking for a contract 4 on the presidio park where project which will deliver the southbound battery tunnel and detour road that will bring everybody who uses the oil and dive into safety by the middle of 2011. we are delighted to be able to use this opportunity. back in october, we had a ground-breaking ceremony for the project as a whole. we had the speaker of the house nancy pelosi with us. the mayor was here, other

dignitaries. at the time, we were looking at the oil drive -- doyle drive. we now have a different project for the 21st century. it is an example of what partnership and inventiveness and the full participation of the amazing community of san francisco residents can do to create a project that is really worthy of the amazing natural setting of the presidio park, the largest urban park in the park system. let me start by making some acknowledgements. we have some speakers who i will introduced in a moment, but i am very pleased to welcome to the event, dan representing the

speaker's office. i would also like to have very much thank christine from senator feinstein's office, as well as mega miller, a field representative team for senator boxer. in that knowledge and then come i want to the knowledge and leadership of both senators and their vision for how important this project is from the first moment, they have been a steadfast force in washington, d.c. for us. together with the speaker, they have been a formidable set of champions for this were the project. i also want to it knowledge the chief operating officer of the presidio trust. a major comeback indispensable partner in the product -- execution of this project.

we have had the pleasure of working with him for several years and look forward to working with them and the future until the project is completed. i also want to acknowledge the first vice-president of the golden gate bridge district team. i also want to thank the chief engineer. of course, the study on doyle drive. mary curry, the leader of public affairs. let me take a moment to introduce the administrator of the federal highway administration. we are simply delighted that he has been able to take time from his busy schedule, which he spent reshaping the way we think about transportation, to come to

san francisco to be here with us. when he leaves today, he will take with him this memento. it is a little shovel. we are giving you a paper shovel made right here in san francisco that has embedded in it native plant from the presidio. take them to your house, put them in a pot and you will have a piece of the presidio park with forever. it may even bloom. plastic? no, it is recycled american paper. american trees.

there you have it, the ultimate sustainable gift. victor mendez is an extremely good choice as the highway administrator. he has been on the job exactly one year and three days. victor was here in october to help us kickoff the project. he oversees almost 3000 employees at the highway administration. it is no stranger to overseeing things. as director of the arizona highway department, he had a challenge their. he is a civil engineer. i always like to say -- since i am a civil engineer, too -- we can actually manage, and many of them do.

they can think big. there is another example of someone not buying the traditional idea of what a freeway is, how people should move, and in doing a tremendous job to change the thinking in washington. that has been recognized by professional organizations around the country. he has been the president of many organizations. it is an honor for me to introduce him today as the first speaker in the program. victor mendez. [applause] >> thank you and good morning. how are we? nice and risk. i came from where it is hot and humid on the east coast, to hear. it surprised me.

it surprised me, everybody wanted to accompany me to san francisco. one lucky person got the assignment. thank you for all of you for being here today. it is brisk but i am enjoying it. thank you for creating this. mayor, great to see you again. many of us were here to kick off the project. a lot of you were here as well, and i am glad you are back to continue with us. as i continue to talk to the people hear about this project, and beyond this, i have to say to all of you, as a region, congratulations. you have an incredible partnership here. it is clear that you all are working together, as different organizations, larger organizations have to fund

balance on the big issues, you are doing that, and that is allow you to move forward and turn vision into reality. so congratulations to all of you. as i mentioned, i was here nine months ago for the kickoff. speaker pelosi was here. mayor newsom once here. level of support you have from your elected officials is incredible. speaker policy has been, on the national level, been helping us, as well as our committee chairman senator boxer. as well, senator feinstein has been very supportive of our transportation initiatives. we are here today to celebrate the continuation of doyle drive. it is important for me to recognize the importance of the recovery act. what we are doing today is try to maintain this by the land so

that we can stand up to a potential earthquake in the future. but that is just part of the story, if you think beyond that parameter. across the nation, from the recovery act perspective, many similar products are occurring. we are rebuilding the economy as we rebuild the infrastructure. to run the nation, there are a lot of contacts on the shelf that would not become reality now if it was not for the recovery act. that was a major infusion to pay with to move transportation colon and has been very helpful. of course, lots of men and women like the ones here today that would have not had a job without the recovery act. if you think about where we were one year ago in the economy, the recovery act was the primary purpose to create jobs. so i and phase here to celebrate not just the project but the rebuilding of america.

president obama has called this the summer of rebuilding. we are going to have more than 11,000 projects under way. we are improving 30,000 miles of road with this summer. if you think about it, that is 10 round trips between here and washington, d.c. we are improving safety, the infrastructure, and at the same time, creating jobs. it is also about making our communities more livable so that parents can have a stiffer ride to their kids' school. people can travel from point a to point b and spend more time with your friends and families and less time stuck in traffic. as i mentioned, of course, we are creating jobs. local suppliers come all local stores, restaurants, will benefit from this investment.

overall, the recovery act is responsible for 2.5 million jobs throughout the country, with and the thousands of towns created solely with and transportation sector. while the recovery has not reached every business and home, we believe strongly we are heading in the right direction. doyle drive is one of the largest recovery tax in the country -- or cover act projects in the country. california will receive more recovery act funding than any other state. almost $2.6 billion. the money is committed to 943 projects with hundred and divide the summer. 122 of those proud of are already complete. as the work shows here, those products are being done with an eye toward enhancing safety,

respect of the environment, and making california more livable. i also wanted to move this project for another reason, which is important to u.s. dot. that reason is we are involving a number of small and disadvantaged businesses, a key goal of u.s. dot. you see the new equipment here. that is simply because of the investment small businesses are able to make because of the recovery act. it is critical that small business is also a part of -- not just sharing in the economy -- by helping us to recover from an economic standpoint. let me close with a few words about our main priority as u.s. dot, and that is safety. we have many projects across the country that are underway and we need to be extra careful when driving through work zones. we want to make sure that men and women building the infrastructure are safe, and

that is important for all of us. i would ask you to please keep that in mind. whenever you are behind the wheel, please turn off your cell phone and pay attention to your driving. i were transportation secretary ray lahood is leading a national effort to bring attention to the dangerous act of talking while driving. in closing, i want to say thank you for being here. thank you for being part of this great regional partnership, your ability to move things forward. once again, from a safety perspective, please buckle up, put away your cell phones while driving, and drive safely. thank you and congratulations. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. let me now take a second to do a couple more acknowledgements.

you can jog in place if you need to. it is part of protocol. bill whitney of the marin transportation department. the parks service. also from the golden gate park service, the deputy director. since i am looking in the direction, let me also acknowledge a quiet presence with a big impact on our partnership with the mayor's office and our ability to advocate a jointly, not just on this project -- nancy kirschner rodriquez. another person who has been essential in bringing together

communications in the community, spur. they represented by their current president kim chappell. he helped us guide us through the process to get an a community agreement and reminded us of a few principles the few times and lost our way. that is why we have such a fantastic project in front of us today. the state of california, the seventh biggest economy in the world, never ceases to amaze me. i am an adopted child of the u.s., state of california, and reading the secretary of the epa's biography, he oversees 40,000 employees. the only have to do with two issues.

housing and transportation. he has 22,000 employees that he needs to look over. a $20 billion budget. i was just noticing his budget is about half of the entire agricultural exports of the country of argentina. that is fascinating. he is a fascinating man, someone that i have been privileged to partner with over the past couple of years on what is a tremendous groundbreaking initiative, the delivery of the second phase of the project. just as the victor is a visionary, i believe dale is also a visionary. many fruit of his vision are likely to mature after he has left office, but his imprint is clear on