once they designed the fabulous redesign of the building, it was, we turned it over to our construction manager's, joe chung and the deputy chief of construction management is here. and ray branigan is a manager over the whole program and john sullivan couldn't be here because he promised to take us to the giants game but who hiffed here, almost literally, for the last two years, working also with curtis -- heartdigen. who was an intern that provided assistance. all of those departments working hard on this project if years to deliver this great library to you all. part of what made their job, i won't say it was easy, but made it a great project to work on as we had a great contractor. and i know, deshawn is here and brian from isac, it was a great

challenging project and they did a great job. please give them a hand. >> and then finally, i just want to reiterate what luis said, leena chin and mindy and the rest of the folks that are managing the whole blip program do an outstanding job are making sure your tax dollars are well spent. this project, like we strive for in everyone, was on time, it was on budget. and this is really the model library for the system. we're very proud to have worked on it. my wife, grew up part of her childhood on 17th avenue came here as a little girl for story-time. it is special to be here. congratulations to y'all and a great new library. >> when we talk about the community owning the library, there's no better example than when you wralk inside and see the chairs and computers and the technology, it is because of a grass roots organization that

galvanizes folks to give and contribute to the library campaign. and it is my pleasure to introduce the executive director of the friends of the library who does a phenomenal job in doing that. also i have a check from her that i want to make sure to pass over to her. here you go. >> absolutely. we have so much to celebrate today. and i know we're getting almost to the end of all of the thanks and congratulations, but it is my very, very great pleasure to be able to thank all of you, because it is the community that made this happen. and you know, we all love libraries in general but then we have our own library. i have to say this is my branch, this is wherely raised my kids and i see so many people in the crowd that i yusde to see in the library 30 years ago and more. it is just, yes, like you. and like frank and ingrid, and like betty and all of these people.

one of my, one of my kids babysitter's from the past are in the crowd. this is always like a home coming and like a great party to -- to be here and celebrate. and, this is truly been a community effort. to make this library come alive. ev had some spectacular supporters. we got an -- a anonymous million dollar gift to support this branch and other branches around the city. and we're so amazed that someone would come forward and do something like that. then, the correct foundation came in with another million, and they have been one of the most generous library supportering foundations in the city. there's a room, there's an auditorium at the main library named for the current foundation. they have made a very generous gift leer. we want to thank them. the donald b. gold foundation, made a fabulous half million dollar gift here.

others -- are the goldsmith foundation. dr. barbara schultz and literally hundreds of members of the community who have made very, very generous gifts and support of this branch and as you know, the richmond community decided that rather than just focus on this one branch, they were going to commit to raising the funds needed for both this and the other branch. so as we celebrate the reopening of this spectacular neighborhood anchor, we'll again celebrate the beginning of the amfa campaign. we're glad you're here to celebrate and part of the great family that support our libraries and know what they mean to our communities. you notice that the name of this branch is the richmond milton marks branch. that again is because of an incredible family. and because of the constant giving and jen yossity of this

family in so many ways to san francisco and to the richmond district. so i would like to ask caroline marks to come up and say a few words. thank you all. >> what a glorious day this is. for sfan and for our district, the richmond district of san francisco. this library. is a remark arble institution that bears the name of my husband who supportered libraries throughout his 38 years in the legislature and loved and read and learned and enjoyed from this particular branch. two of our grandchildren have taken out the first books, tcha are being circulated today. i think that's an honor. i thank you for buying leer

today. because you love our libraries and our cities and you have supported the rehabilitation of the libraries with your contributions and any contributions as just mentioned are still very important. no matter how small and no matter how large, we will be grateful for them. so we appreciate the fact that you're here to share the joy of the day and we appreciate the fact that you continue to support us. and most of my family is here today, my daughter carol who is sitting under the shade of a tree came down from sacramento with her daughter zoe. my son, milton marks who is president of the city college board and his three children, his twins, will and theo and his son -- nathan. are you around? >> they're picking out books. >> that's important, more important than standing here. then i want to introduce abbey's mother, lenore and my friend

walter. i like to say a special thanks to bruce oka but doesn't seem to be here but was a key factor in getting this library named after my son. i like to mention peter warfield who is not enthusiastic all the time but he does what he believes is important for our library. and you -- you are all very important, each one of you. because you love libraries, you love learning and you're here today to share the spirit of the richmond. and so as we initiate a new year for our city and our family, to support what is really one of the marks of our democracy, a library, the libraries and the schools are the most important parts of the establishing of theory of democracy in our children. so -- >> [applause] >> so please continue to be there with us and for us, and be

the leaders that you are and encourage others to follow you because you are very important to the vision of our city, which is an unusual vision, a vision of diversity, a division of equality and dignity for all and success for all. and in our tradition, i would like to say, congratulations on this day. i neglected to thank the leaders of the library, our librarian, the friends of the library. the people who check the books in and out daily and don't mind if your books are late in return. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> so as we, as we said and certainly as -- as senator said, it takes a village to make a library, in this case, the village that makes up the richmond district has the most

fantastic and robust and committed and passionate and visionary group of volunteers -- the person that i think embodies that most is chamomile shay who has brought her children down to test foy in front of the board of supervisors, she has worked tirelessly to bring the play ground on the other side to life. and to -- to make sure that all aspects of this library are working for and with the community and so please, join me in thanking and welcoming com mill shay. [applause] >> hello, iver thank yous to make. par as we're known is a neighborhood organization that worked to improve the quality of life in the richmond district for 30 years. par oversaw the fund raising for the play area.

all of you in your generosity maded jobees. i do have people that i like to special a thank in particular. the first thank you goes to the library staff and the friends of the library and the d.p.w. staff for their patience and support of this community endeavor. and next, i like to thank paul burns and his company fire clay title r tile for the gift of the tile wall project. this contribution not only raised money, it also brought the community together. sharing in the pleasurable and creative tasks of making something beautiful together. and third, i like to thank the residential builder's association for their generous gifts and for their patience in installing numerous charming and highly missmapen that were gleefully squished flat in our community workshop. i also like to thank jeff king and company for their generosity. we're the ben fish rather's of this firm's living the battle

cry, think globally and act locally. and finally, i like to thank dr. barbara schultz, simply put, we could not have ren sated the play area without her support. so on behalf of my two girls and the numerous children who will enjoy this play area, thank you. >> thank you. thank you very much for your leadership. working closely with the neighborhood. there's two individuals i want to acknowledge and then we're going to get started. commissioner al harris i see in the audience, would you wave? thank you for your support. now, and an unsung hero with the library system that does tremendous work but sometimes never gets acknowledged, jill bourn and thank you for all of the work you do. great work. all right. are we ready to go into the library? absolutely. thank you for your patience. our tradition with all of the branch improvement programs when we do a ribbon cutting is to do the cutting and then the lion

dancers from the joe ming athletic association will lead the way to do a traditional chinese blessing of the building. so we ask for your patience and then as soon as we walk through the first floor, we'll open the doors for the community. thank you for your patience and thank you for being here. and enjoy your richmond. senator milton marks library. ♪

>> there has been an acknowledgement of the special places around san francisco bay. well, there is something sort of innate in human beings, i think, that tend to recognize a good spot when you see it, a spot that takes your breath away. this is one of them. >> an icon of the new deal. >> we stood here a week ago and we heard all of these dignitaries talk about the symbol that coit tower is for san francisco. it's interesting for those of us in the pioneer park project is trying to make the point that not only the tower, not only this man-built edifice here is a symbol of the city but also the green space on which it sits and the hill to which is rests. to understand them, you have to understand the topography of san francisco. early days of the city, the city grows up in what is the financial district on the edge of chinatown.

everything they rely on for existence is the golden gate. it's of massive importance to the people what comes in and out of san francisco bay. they can't see it where they are. they get the idea to build a giant wooden structure. the years that it was up here, it gave the name telegraph hill. it survived although the structure is long gone. come to the 1870's and the city has growed up remarkably. it's fueled with money from the nevada silver mines and the gold rush. it's trying to be the paris of the west. now the beach is the suburbs, the we will their people lived on the bottom and the poorest people lived on the top because it was very hard getting to the top of telegraph hill. it was mostly lean-to sharks and bits of pieces of houses up here in the beginning. and a group of 20 businessmen decided that it would be better if the top of the hill remained for the public. so they put their money down

and they bought four lots at the top of the hill and they gave them to the city. lily hitchcock coit died without leaving a specific use for her bequest. she left a third of her estate for the beautify indication of the city. arthur brown, noted architect in the city, wanted for a while to build a tower. he had become very interested in persian towers. it was the 1930's. it was all about machinery and sort of this amazing architecture, very powerful architecture. he convinced the rec park commission that building a tower in her memory would be the thing to do with her money. >> it was going to be a wonderful observation place because it was one of the highest hills in the city anywhere and that that was the whole reason why it was built that high and had the elevator access immediately from the beginning as part of its

features. >> my fear's studio was just down the street steps. we were in a very small apartment and that was our backyard. when they were preparing the site for the coit tower, there was always a lot of harping and griping about how awful progress was and why they would choose this beautiful pristine area to do them in was a big question. as soon as the coit tower was getting finished and someone put in the idea that it should be used for art, then, all of a sudden, he was excited about the coit tower. it became almost like a daily destination for him to enjoy the atmosphere no matter what the politics, that wasn't the

point. as long as they fit in and did their work and did their own creative expression, that was all that was required. they turned in their drawings. the drawings were accepted. if they snuck something in, well, there weren't going to be any stoolies around. they made such careful little diagrams of every possible little thing about it as though that was just so important and that they were just the big frog. and, actually, no one ever felt that way about them and they weren't considered something like that. in later life when people would approach me and say, well, what did you know about it? we were with him almost every day and his children, we grew up together and we didn't think of him as a commie and also the

same with the other. he was just a family man doing normal things. no one thought anything of what he was doing. some of them were much more highly trained. it shows, in my estimation, in the murals. this was one of the masterpieces. families at home was a lot more close to the life that i can remember that we lived. murals on the upper floors like the children playing on the swings and i think the little deer in the forest where you could come and see them in the woods and the sports that were always available, i think it did express the best part of our lives. things that weren't costing money to do, you would go to a picnic on the beach or you

would do something in the woods. my favorite of all is in the staircase. it's almost a miracle masterpiece how he could manage to not only fit everyone, of course, a lot of them i recognized from my childhood -- it's how he juxtaposed and managed to kind of climb up that stairway on either side very much like you are walking down a street. it was incredible to do that and to me, that is what depicted the life of the times in san francisco. i even like the ones that show the industrial areas, the once with the workers showing them in the cannery and i can remember going in there and seeing these women with the caps, with the nets shuffling these cans through. my parents had a ranch in santa

rosa and we went there all summer. i could see these people leaning over and checking. it looked exactly like the beautiful things about the ranch. i think he was pretty much in the never look back philosophy about the coit. i don't think he ever went to visit again after we moved from telegraph hill, which was only five or six years later. i don't think he ever had to see it when the initials are scratched into everything and people had literally destroyed the lower half of everything. >> well, in my view, the tower had been pretty much neglected from the 1930's up until the 1980's. it wasn't until then that really enough people began to be alarmed about the condition of the murals, the tower was leaking.