and a member of the commission. thank you very much. [applause] >> i would like to introduce not only a good friend, but as you will see as this thing moves forward, one heck of a partner. mike flowers from american bridge is going to give us a little chat on the technical part of what we're doing today. [applause] >> thanks. distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, after four painstaking years of planning and watching literally thousands of fabricated pieces come skillfully together, it is massive tower elements of this one-of-a-kind bridge, it is with great satisfaction that we pause in celebration of the installation of first our segment of self-anchored

suspension bridge, but no matter how complete the plant, it has to be executed by people. skilled craftsmen, inspectors, and engineers that bring to light to plans and divisions of the designers, dedicated workers to whom today's spot light belongs. on this occasion, i would like to thank the department -- cindy and the department for all of its support and partnership. the toll bridge oversight committee for its leadership. the design joint venture for its vision. the careful -- dpmc who carefully crafted these pieces together, a special thanks for the crescent ship, the professional skill, innovation in meeting the challenge of constructing this unprecedented

structure. i want to echo scott hagerty's comments that this milestone, while meaningful, is but a step in the ultimate journey of restoring this bridge to seismic safety. on behalf of over 300 employees that are building this bridge even as we speak for the team of american bridge and floor, i want to pledge to you our best efforts in working with you our best efforts to complete it as safely and quickly as we can. so for a brief moment, let us pause to recognize the accomplishments of many, but let us be ever mindful of our ultimate goal in the service of even more. thanks. with that, i want to turn the program back over to the caltrans spokesman. [applause] >> ok, i would like to thank our speakers today for their great

comments in acknowledging this moment in history and all the work that has been done by the bay bridge team and basically conclude the ceremony portion of what we are going to be doing today. for those of you in the media that are going to be taking the boat trip, i need to talk with you for a few minutes, so give us basically invented to excuse everybody. those of you in the media, please stay right here. i'm going to go over the next steps we have to do to go out on the water to see this thing very closely. also, thank you to the warriors for showing up today, and taking this icon literally on to their uniforms. thanks, everybody. one minute, media.

>> 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 -- from the mta take us over to the ticket machine. they will give us a demonstration of how the machines work, and they will give us cards from the new gates. we will come back and use the clipper cards on the new fare gates.

>> and they will want to thank them for the lumir willingness. i want to recognize that we also have a very diverse group of individuals serving on a diverse group of boards and bodies. have the pleasure of reappointing someone who has a connection that goes back generations, larry mazzola, sr. i'm pleased that subject to approval, p.j. johnson will serve again.

president of the arts commission, who has been doing an outstanding job, really raising the bar in terms of public art and our commitment to neighborhood arts. i want to thank lisa gruwell for her willingness to serve on the civil service commission that sets my salary. i wish you luck and independence from whoever is serving as mayor. i want to thank the environment commission, which is something we are very proud of, for his willingness to serve as a new member. london and michael are quite familiar to their commissions. they will both be here. thank you, chief. i know you are pleased to have

both of them. you have already told me you are pleased to have both of them. i am enthusiastic about their commissions. it's a good thing for everybody. we will have the opportunity to give people an opportunity to give people on their respective boards the opportunity to serve as well. thank you, lily chan. she will be serving on the golden gate park concourse authority, which is interesting for so many reasons. i'm grateful that you are willing to continue your service here and the city as well. human rights commission, reappointing cecilia, michael, and julius. you have done a great job. i appreciate your support of our director, into the good work, the human rights commission continues to do. where is sam?

there you are. thank you, sam. thank you for your willingness to continue to serve on the immigrant rights commission, and your good stewardship and leadership in the committee. michael nguyen. we technically swore in michael, but it was private. i appreciate your willingness to come here are any more public setting and have the honor to swear you in. carol kingsley, who was supported unanimously, which is pretty impressive, on the police commission. she will be serving as the newest police commissioner. i'm very enthusiastic. the board of supervisors seems to share that. well, air and good lucome and g.

not the easiest of commissions, but incredibly important. we went through a lot of presiresidents. i'm appreciative of her willingness to serve. the rent board. do not screw up something that is working. we had a debate on a solution to a mysterious problem. we do not have a problem because we have a balanced rent board. people that want to obtain a strong relationship and inappropriate one. as a consequence, i felt like i did not need to reappoint new folks. felt like i could reappoint the existing folks. they're doing a great job.

thank you for your willingness to continue your service. i do not know why -- all of you were enthusiastic, too, when i called you. i thought maybe one or two of you wanted to take a vacation from the service. i am grateful that you were willing. i am also grateful the retirement board is getting a lot of attention. pensions are getting a lot of attention. some people have confused san francisco with sacramento. it is a big difference. budgets, pensions, retirements. nonetheless, this is an important body and board. we have two great people who are willing to serve. i know he is very enthusiastic. he was very concerned that we appoint people of high integrity, high skills, that

tended to be above a lot of the politics in this town. we have two great people there. i imagine he wanted to be with all of you. he wanted to be with his wife in particular. wendy paskin-jordan is here as one of the new appointees to the retirement board. she will join victor makras, who is very familiar to us. i kind of try to convince you. i was not sure victor was so excited about this. i asked him. hi needed somebody of his character. i am very pleased. i think those are two great appointees, wendy and victor. this will continue to elevate what is already a model

retirement board for the rest of the state. the two remaining divisions, the small business commission, jamie, thank you for your willingness to serve. as a small businesswoman, you know a thing or two about the challenges and reveal. lu o'brien -- how long have you serve? not even a full year. this will extend his turn. -- term. you guys ask good questions yesterday. it is important. finally, al norman. al, thank you for your willingness to serve in the southeast community facility commission. i always thought -- we need to raise this far out there of what we do for the southeast community facility. we'll have a lot of conversations.

al is a legend out there. thank you for that. who else are we missing? oh, yeah, nancy. you will also be continuing your service. i apologize. we did not know you were going to make it. i'm glad you made it, nancy. thank you for extending your service with the golden gate concourse. i will remind everybody -- if you are going to disagree with me, please give me a heads up. that does not mean that things do not, in front of you that are controversial and on the fly, you might have a point of view, and you should share that point of view. on big issues, all i ask is a heads up. only on two occasions -- frank, i imagine this has happened to you periodically. i have a call at 2:00 in the

morning where one of my department heads was removed by the commission. nobody gave me a heads up. i was a little concerned about that. those are the kind of things. give me a heads up. otherwise, exercise your independence. exercise your insight. that's why you're here. i just want the opportunity to have a chance to dialogue if we are on different sides. then you use your judgement and conclude as best you could what is the right path for the people of san francisco, who do not represent some special interest. the folks that show up here are important. folks that do not have the time to show up here are equally important. please remember there are a lot of people out there that count on you to also have a voice that cannot make it down to your committee hearing or board.

that is something that is very, very important to me. that's why you are here. you are here to represent the city. that city includes those that do not have stickers or buttons, that do not show up at 6:00 p.m., that also deserve your attention and your goodwill and your stewardship. those are really two points. otherwise, i'm very happy that you're here. i'm very thankful. thank you for coming down to city hall. supervisor duffy is sitting there with his arms crossed. what is it? are you ready? all right. anytime someone has his hands crossed, that means get going. they are shutting down. [laughter] york physiology changed my standing up, and raising your

right hand. when i say i, you state your name. why don't we go down here? larry will go back, and we will end with you. during such time, we hold the position of -- and then you will mention your respective commission board or body. is that easy? all right. you have your right hand up. i -- [inaudible]

i do solemnly swear that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states, and the constitution of the state of california, that i bear trap, faith, and allegiance to the state, that i take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter. and during such time, as i hold the position, as a member -- [inaudible]

for the city and county of san francisco. congratulations, everybody. [applause] i appreciate how effective that was. [applause]

>> good morning, everyone. thank you so much for joining us at el cafe. we want to thank lourdes for housing us this morning. this was a really wonderful opportunity for us to get the community more involved. as many of you know we've been working really hard on our truancy and wanting to get our kids in our schools, staying in our schools, and make sure they're doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. this effort has been a true effort between the city, the school district, and so many of our partners in the community, and this launch today is really about involving our community, our larger community, in what it is that we're trying to do. and so we want to just thank all of our community partners who are here, urban services, maria

sue from the department of children, youth, and families. the s.f. police department, who has been really instrumental in making sure that our truancy process goes well, and captain lazar is here from the police department. want to thank him for all of his efforts and supporting what we're doing. and i have from the school district superintendent garcia and our mayor, who have been partnering on so many different efforts. but today is about bringing our communities into the fold. when we see students out on the street, we're not going to walk by them any longer and just allow them to stay on the street and miss hours of school and miss opportunities, to be the kind of citizens that we want them to be. and so this is really about showing the support for our students and that our community is here to be with them. and i also wanted to acknowledge regina, who has been really instrumental in connecting us with our merchant