not only people access it in the office but from home because we use the internet. what we used to do was carry the large maps and it took a long time to find the information. >> it saves the city time and money. you are not taking up the time of a particular employee at the assessor's office. you might be doing things more efficient. >> they have it ready to go and say, this is what i want. >> they are finding the same things happening on the phone where people call in and ask, how do i find this information? we say, go to this website and they go and get the information easily. >> a picture tells a thousand stories. some say a map

>> about four years ago, [inaudible] look at how beautiful this was.

there is our relationship to the planet. these regions are the wealthiest, the most powerful. that really has impacted the planet. it is almost impossible now to go anywhere and had it really be completely dark. there are very few locations that you can find. that means our relationship to the sky, there is a way where we dominate the sky. we cannot see anything really. we are blinding ourselves in a way. >> you can look at the images,

they are beautiful. when i started four years ago, there was a conversation about environmental issues that was very different. this is not being talked about in the way it is now. . this has just been like an amazing growth. i anticipate the project to be something that opens a dialogue to public interest in these ideas. so the work is really made to be seen in this environment. it's been show in museum, in gallery, but never in a public setting. and it's kind of ideal for both

myself and the works to have this real dialogue with the public not only in san francisco but people coming from all over the world. >> since the dawn of electricity, that light is something that people feel connected to and inspired by. personally, there is space to keep that alive, just finding balance. the key is to find some balance.

>> good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. it is my pleasure to be here with our regional fta administrator and our commissioner from san francisco who sits on the metropolitan transportation commission. we have a new development in terms of the muni metro system, one of which is the beginning of the card installation system.

we have nine stations that will be receiving newgate's. and we will be adding another 19 disabled fare gates. what we are attempting to do here is replace the infrastructure that has well tapped is useful life in terms of our fair gates, and we are cobbling that at the same time with a nuclear program, which you all should be aware of and which is the regional smart card that will be used throughout the area for public transit trips in the region. the new ticket vending machines -- we have purchased 40 of those ticket vending machines. customers should be able to go to any metro station and purchase tickets that can be used on all of the systems in the metro region. they are multi-lingual machines. they speak in english as well as spanish and chinese, so we are very excited to be here today. again, 30 years worth of work

that these dates have done it, and they have done all that they can carry in over 700,000 people, and these new dates will hopefully be here in the next 25 or 30 years serving as public transportation services here in the city, getting to and from their loved ones, getting to their job, getting to education, so we do not look at these gates as just being steel and rubber and labels. we look at them as an instrument to help people achieve their dreams, and today is an important day. we expect to have the total system outfitted by the end of october. we would not be here if it were not from the parks department, with federal stimulus dollars that came to us from the fda. the project had been sitting on the shelf for quite some time here at the agency, and we were fortunately able to fast for this project through our partnership with the mtc and the

clipper program, through federal stimulus dollars that were presented to us by president obama's economic recovery program. it was clearly a partnership that got us here today, and it is i guess a signal of future unveilings we will be doing over the next couple of months over the -- with other projects that will be coming to fruition. we started this work a few years ago as it related to the clipper card. we started work as it relates to the trolley buses being rehabilitated. we have a host of projects that we are implementing at this time to get our system in a good state of repair, and today is just one of them. with that, i would like to turn it over to our regional administrator -- regional fta. >> i am especially pleased to join you here today and celebrate this wonderful partnership. this project has been forwarded

with $11 million of federal stimulus dollars, and that is only one portion of the upward of $70 million in stimulus money that came to the mta here. we're very pleased to be here today. i would analogize this project almost to that of fine wine. nothing before its time. we have been involved with translink program. we are almost there. not only did the recovery money provide and create and retain jobs across the country, it provided that additional infrastructure funding to get us over the hump. again, we are pleased to join with you today, and congratulations to both of our partners. thank you very much. >> here it is -- this is the

clipper card, so everybody, have a good look at that. i think it is a very handsome looking card. you will see the logo on all the cards, on all the machines. you just put the cards down, and you are on your way to wherever your going -- wherever you are going, and given the -- how shall i say it -- the particular special environment of the bay area, the fact that we can all get around with the same card is a wonderful thing, and mtc is delighted -- believe me, i have been there a long time. it is a great delight and a real treat to be able to have this happen today, so i hope everybody will have a chance to use the cards and enjoy it. thank you very much, and i'm

delighted to be here. >> clearly, there is a group of folks we have to recognize here. we would not be here today if it was not for the folks in the trenches with ft thec s andfmta and federal transit administration -- those are the folks that really brought this to fruition. they have a lot more hard work to do, as when you bring on any complicated technology like this. it does have its growing pains, and we will experience those, but you have a commitment from the mtc and mta that we will try to make this is painless as possible. i think it is a great day to have these new fare gauges, just another indication of how the mta is reinventing capital dollars to make sure the system is reliable and efficient and on time. we're going to have the project manager of m from theta --m