right in san francisco. it is a remarkable thing, with this high unemployment rate, that i'm more proud to be the mayor of san francisco than any other city. this is 3.6% lower than the rest of the state. and when you compare us to any dense urban county, san

francisco has the lowest unemployment rate. we have more public development than any other city in california. billions are being invested in a regional water system. this work is underway, with 40,000 jobs attached to this. this is not five years from now. these construction projects are happening right now. it was said that there is work that is being done -- that the second most unsafe thoroughfare in the united states of america. think about that. this was constructed with the same design of the bridge.

and this is the structural rating through this. this project was dead on arrival. we spoke optimistically about the sock. and now, this is under construction -- about this. and now, this is under construction. we have the federal dollars and the state dollars. we have those who believe everything that they read, and they thought that the stimulus program actually delivered the final funding for this. and the direct appropriations because of the leadership of nancy pelosi. and the stimulus money would take us right over the edge so that we could get the bill. $1.5 billion is being invested. these are the local job requirements and this makes as

the indy of any other place in the state of california. this was completely redone and there is hundreds more under way. i will challenge you to go down to the western addition of san francisco. and i wish i could bring photographs. this is of the fisher family and their contributions. they put up $40 million to help us on the campaign. if you go across the street to hamilton bull, this project is part of the library improvement program. the rest of this will be done in the next year and a half. for those of you who believe that we could be more like chicago and terms of beautifying

the streets, go down to visadero, and where kaiser decided to step up, where they rebid this right across the campuses. and see how they made this more beautiful. this matters to me. i go from the large projects to the small projects, and for me this is about quality of life. that is what will keep the economy going and the residential market moving probably under extraordinarily difficult sub reported -- exporter -- extraordinarily difficult situations. we have been talking about this for 15 or 20 years. there have been more press conferences on this. there is really nothing that can be written about this except the few people showed up and they

spoke about something that may or may not happen. we actually had somebody to show up that you should have written about. mary, your exception is why i am here. the secretary of the navy was there with nancy pelosi. i have to tell you, this has been the most amazing six most g six weeks i have had since being elected in local office. i mentioned doyle drive. we had our first, since being mayor, with nancy pelosi and the secretary of the navy, we signed an agreement with the navy. it is a public-public-private

partnership. and number of those individuals are here today. 8000 housing units. 32% of them below market value. 500 rooms and hotel. the most sustainable brain development in the country. we have been talking about it for 20 years. we are now delivering on it. we are a few months away from finalizing the eir but the deal is signed. trust me, this deal was dead a couple of years ago. it was going nowhere. these guys started to panic, for good reason. now it is real, it is happening. 2000 construction jobs every year. you can extrapolate that out over the 10-year construction phase. that is a big deal to this city.

hunters point, arguably, even bigger. 700,000 square feet of new retail. 10,000-seat performance than you. 69,000-seat nfl stadium. for someone. [laughter] rebuilding griffith public housing. mary mentioned hope sf. rebuilding public housing, not waiting for the federal government. west point, hunter's point. we are going to start in sunnyvale and we will rebuild all of the public housing sites and get serious about it by doing mixed use housing and we

are going to right the wrongs of the past to help those most of all honorable. that is real, that is happening in this city. transbay terminal. truly, the grander central station on the west coast. i do not even like to be compared to grand central station because this is a much more extraordinary vision. i am sure maria will have slides, and all of you will walk away thinking, wow. high-speed rail. the fact we got $4 million in stimulus money allowed us to move forward on construction of this site. this is real. secretary ray lahood was out here with speaker pelosi. the temporary facility is open.

you know this. the only press we are getting is a bad press, that there are not enough benches. by the way, everything that we did was -- in housing was for long-term shelter. 12,000 human beings are off the streets since i became mayor. i know what you say, it does not feel like it. but the last survey we did in january, 44% of the people on the streets had been there for less than 90 days. think about what that means. as soon as we house someone, someone else is arriving. real progress, 30 years like

this, we are finally moving in the right direction on homelessness. we are not giving up. and i get it every day. i see the same people you do, every day. we are working to try to solve this problem, again, large and small. 2600 housing units and maria will talk about as part of the transbay terminal redesign. an extraordinary designed. and at the theater, a living proof. similar to the academy of science. that is $400 million that guarantees the northern terminus. do not underestimate the significance of that. it allowed us to move forward on the other $1.2 million investment to be constructed the

old facility to begin rebuilding the new one, so we can complete the project in the next few years. high-speed rail, still a long way away. northern terminus now safely anchored in san francisco, in the new downtown. speaking of investment in infrastructure and transportation, the central subway. i do not know if many people know this, but we had a groundbreaking. it has started. some of you have hired people, are employed because of this. $1.57 billion project. i am trying to suck up in orange county, but this is their money. i do not think this, i know this. we have been more competitive than any other city in this

state. we are about to do a full funding grant agreement to get close to $1 billion of federal money, back into your city to complete that project. i feel 100% confident that we are going to get it, save some disaster on november 3. i have every confidence that we can deliver in this. that project is already doing the utility relocations, construction jobs are already being advanced. you can see the staging area as you are stuck in traffic on third street. something else we are working on. doyle drive, central subway, treasure island, a view hunters point, redoing parks, streets,

valencia, cesar chavez. i will close with just a few thoughts -- soma mid market sixth street, fifth street, seventh street. here we go again, another mayor over promising, under delivering. i agree with you. i do not know if i over promised -- but i do not feel like i have delivered. at the board of supervisors, there was one person who killed that development plan. thank god for -- [laughter]

that is the great warriors spirit. a kind of remember you, but that power is not emphasized negatively. we decided to create this new central market pot -- partnership. this is about seven city agencies coming together. we did some best practice analysis and covered the country. we realized the catalyst to our effort was the most important thing. arts. arts will lead to that renaissance. theater, dance, music. kick literally, 75 -- literally, 75 our organizations are committed to coming back to this area. what they need is the border supervisors to not play politics

and not screw this up. city place, the anger of this revitalization, approved by my commission -- i see you here, thank you, city agencies -- the only way it does not happen is if the board of supervisors says no. that is a quarter million square feet that connects from nordstrom's up into the western part of soma. by the way, there will be a new substation for police officers there. 28 officers will be housed in that station. we are getting serious about putting more beat officers out there. dozens of more organizations announced that they want to come to the area. i really believe this.

in the next year and a half, you will drive through and say, something different is going on here. it is not just a different side, less crowded folks panhandling, poverty on the streets -- but something will happen. the national endowment of arts cables one of the most competitive grants in the country because of our vision. now we have to complete that vision and invest. city place is critical to that project being advanced. i cannot emphasize how much what we do today will impact what we do tomorrow, and for years and years. you do not know this, we balance our budget without raising taxes. i do not think two people thought that was possible.

we did it without laying off police officers, firefighters, and something that you probably do not know, no teachers laid off. we used part of our rainy day reserve, and because of good management at the school district, with an astounding -- outstanding school superintendent, they were able to pull them back. advanced universal health care. 99% of standard siskins who did not have it are now enrolled. you want to get serious about the dropout, truancy rate, the achievement gap for minorities, you need to begin at the beginning. early cuts in education is something that we are doing. we also announced a five-year budget that will be announced, universal after school.

the only county in california that does that. our bond ratings were just reaffirmed. like every other state in this city, we were downgraded. you see what happened in chicago, los angeles. you see the contrast of firefighters being laid off in san jose. none here. we have a two-year budget. we have a robust rainy day strategy, no longer reserves, because we depleted the last three years, but it is in place when the economy comes around. we have to pay as you go. dramatic social-service reform, the lowest number of city employees since 1998. the employees gave back $1.8 billion in wage concessions. for all the folks of love to blame city employees for our

problems, that is not fair. i do not know another city where public employees will step up like that, and i still avoided layoffs, and i did promotions because i thought it was the right thing to do. i was still allowed to do that without making a commitment in the deals with concessions to say i cannot do that. my point is, we have not leighton labor's presence in this town. and this is not taking away pension. you have passed two pension reforms in the past few years because we did it the right way. the only county in the state to do with unfunded liabilities. 79% of you supported pension reform in june. but do not be fooled by this new pension reform.

it will set us back. i am the pension die. i am the one that enhances them with supervisor sean elsbernd. i mean this sincerely, our public employees stepped up. we have fully funded our capital plans. more money will be invested into repaving streets than in any other previous year. god knows we need more money than we have ever spent. my final point, do not support tax increases on the november ballot. there were six tax issues that supervises wanted to advance. there were only two that they were able to get on, but i am shocked that we're having this conversation in this climate. they will be back, i may not, but you need to step in. this is an under taxed city.

to increase the hotel tax in this economic environment is suicide. you must defeat this 2% increase on the hotel tax. it is inexcusable that we are having this debate. you just had your property transfer tax doubled a couple of years ago. i guess it was not good enough because they want to increase it again. how does that help us in the commercial sector? i said we balanced budgets without raising taxes and we have more support of housing than in any other time in history. how is it possible? but when they say it cannot be done next year, they are wrong, when we project our budget deficits. we can figure it out, but do not kill the economic engine of this city, tourism and small businesses.

we do not need to increase payroll taxes, sales taxes, we do not need to increase hotel taxes in this city. we need to streamline our bureaucracy, invest in cutting taxes like we did in biotech, now we have 60 companies here. like we did in green technology. we are the envy of the nation in terms of breed technologies. going after digital arts companies, design companies. these remarkable new companies that are all moving to san francisco. that is all from my -- the board would call it petulance -- but i call it passion. i feel strongly.

i am a progressive when it comes to social issues, you know this, but i am a pro-jobs democrat. you cannot be that and the anti business. we need to invest in business. i hope you invest some time in this year's ballot and consider who the pro-jobs candidate is for supervisor. this is not to scare you. we are moving in the right direction against long odds. but it can easily tip. ideology is too strong in this town. you have these publications, blogs, op edge, and it is as if nothing matters what happens in city hall, alway what one person

is thinking. i do not exaggerate. i have been doing this for 15 years. ideology does not know parties. i do not like it on the far right, and even on the far left. you are the only thing standing between a dramatic shift of course in this town for the next 10 years, and keeping this pace of progressive politics but with some fiscal discipline and pro- jobs sensibility, which at our best, is what san francisco has always represented. please take some time to learn about these district supervisor races. do not get me six months from now asking me what happened? the future is not in front of us, it is inside of you. you have to determine it.

get involved. asked folks in your office the tough questions. this is critical. if i have to come in front of this group and say city place is a problem? that should not even be an issue. it should be a uniting factor. it suggests how close we are in this town. please get involved. these are my final words. as someone with an 11.5-month- old baby, who i think loves this city -- though she does not speak yet -- although she looks like it. i say that as the ex-mayor of san francisco. i know my place. we come and go. i say this as a fifth generation san franciscan.

the best days are absolutely ahead of us. there is no doubt in my mind. i love our challenges. i really do. but our opportunities are limitless and less -- when we have good leaders. be involved in these races. even in districts you do not reside in. get involved. can i make it any more clear? enough of it me. now to the happy and optimistic future that is america's cup. we have a video that i think will enliven your senses, will give you a real sense of optimism about our prospects to generate $1.4 billion in economic activity, 840,000 jobs, a decision will be next -- made in the next 30 days.