>> as an honorary citizen, you have to come often, and if we raise taxes, you'll be the first to know. >> last time i was here, miss schulz gave me a stanford cat. i had to take a picture to prove that our warrant. thank you, everyone. mayor lee: thank you. i guess if there's questions. all right. >> former mayor gavin newsom often talked about modeling some of his programs after new york. [inaudible]

if he could give us your impression of the homeless problem in the city as you have walked around and driven around. >> i did not know the specifics of how many people here need shelter, but we set a very aggressive goal of reducing the shelter population in new york, which we did not meet because what happened was the economy went south, and that put an awful lot more people in need of shelter. we worked very hard to help reach -- to outreach. we think we have a very small number of people on the streets that sleep on the streets. that is our first concern. we have fixed hours shelter system so that nobody sleeps on a bench. we get everybody to a place and make sure that the kids do get assigned to a school, and we worked very hard on programs to get people out the other end, get them permanent housing. we have a program called

advantage, which is funded by the federal government, the state government, and the city government. unfortunately, federal and state are cutting it out, so we will have an enormous challenge, but it is a program where you have to work to qualify for rent assistance, and if you get a job, which we try to help you do, and keep your job, you can keep the help to provide shelter outside the shelter system, a permanent apartment. i think the people of san francisco and the people of new york understand we have an obligation to help those who are not as lucky as the rest of us. i wish we did not have a problem, but as long as the problem is there, i think the people of san francisco and the people of new york city understand their obligation, and we are going to do everything we can. >> [inaudible] >> i just know -- i took the bar in. it was a fast ride, and walked two blocks with the mayor.

it is like new york, i'm sure there are places people go. what we do on the last monday of january -- we send out 500 volunteers dressed as vagrants, and we assign them to different places around the city where you might find homeless, and we send out 2000 volunteers who go all night and tried to count, and we assume we get the same percentage of the actual population as the decoys, and it has been coming down about 13% each year. i have not got the numbers for this year yet. we should be getting them in the next few weeks, but it is a great challenge, and we have about 2500 people living on the streets of new york city, and almost all of them, we interface with. they have emotional problems or psychiatric or addiction problems. there is no simple answers. there are people who just need help, and it is hard to reach out to them. from what i have heard about the mayor, he has a real compassion for people, and that is what you

need, someone who is going to do that. >> what advice would you give our new mayor to try to keep his head above water? [inaudible] >> well, he could come to new york and visit us for the next year. [laughter] i am sure the press would not work him over for that and he would not be in any trouble. i have always thought the public wants elected officials who are genuine. they did not necessarily have to agree with them, and they will complain if they do not agree with them, but they want people who they think are doing things for what the official things are the right reasons, and what they do not like our people that try to have it both ways all the time. you should state what you believe in. "this is who i am." in this case, he was elected by the board of supervisors.

they knew what they were getting. you should stick with it. there is an old western saying -- you dance with the woman that from you in. that would be my first piece of advice. be honest and do your best. not everything is going to work. you have to be innovative. you have to be willing to try new things, even when you know the likelihood of the working is not great and if they do not work, you will be criticized. but the only way cities become great like san francisco has become, is because they had some innovative people who really tried to do things. >> [inaudible] >> change is difficult. there are people who do not like change. one of the great battles, i suppose, in america is between those who drive cars and those who ride bicycles. they both feel very strongly about it, and i think there is a

place for balance. we have put a lot of new bicycle lanes in, but most people in new york city either walk or take mass transit. the roads we have do not have any excess capacity, and we are not going to have more roads. bicycles is one of the answers. people that write them like them. it can be dangerous. in an accident between a car and a bicycle, the bicycle does not have good odds, but our transportation commissioner is very innovative. she does come under a lot of criticism, but when i appointed her, i said i wanted her to try new things. all of the big things, i have approved, i should take the heat, not her. we have done things like closing times square and herald square to traffic, which has been one of the most successful things we have done in terms of getting tourists and helping commerce in the area. we are trying lots of different things.

different ways of paying for buses, different kinds of bus routes, and that sort of thing. in the end, mass transit is the solution for every big city, certainly for new york city. if not mass transit, then you have to take the roads, and roads are not just for automobiles. they are for bicyclist and pedestrians as well. we used to have a number of deaths every year by a traffic accident in herald square and times square, and today, i think there is virtually none. the number of traffic deaths in new york city has gone down to below the lowest when we started keeping records, which was about 1909 or 1910, something along those lines, and keeping people say is one of the transportation commissioners jobs, and she has done a great job. controversial, yes, but if you do not have a commission that is controversial, you do not have a commission that is trying new things. >> [inaudible] >> don't take hours.

i do not think he would come. >> [inaudible] >> yes, you have to have somebody that understands the first job is to make the streets safe so you do not have to look over your shoulder. they have to do it consistent with the constitution of the united states, but i think any city that thinks that they can have a tax base without low crime is making a mistake, and any city that thinks they can have low crime without constant investment in a diverse police force is making a mistake. our police department cost us roughly $8 billion a year, including pensions and other charges to it. we have 35,000 police on the street, 55,000 people that work in the department. and we still have crime. we have the lowest murder rates we have ever had, slightly up last year.

maybe we will set a new record for low murder. i hope, but it is aggressive policing, consistent with the law that keeps crime down, and it is a battle for reducing street crime and for preventing terrorists from inflicting enormous damage. those are the two basic jobs. it is nice when the police can do other things, but nobody should forget what their responsibility is, and the police chief serves at the pleasure of the mayor. they have to do what the mayor's policies are, and when it comes to making the police chief's jobs easier, if we could get guns off the streets of our cities, you would stop killing cops and innocent people, and it is one of the biggest problems facing this country, and washington seems to be unwilling to act to do anything about it.

>> [inaudible] >> good morning. there is nothing like san francisco on a beautiful day like today. there is a lord of above because we have been praying for sunshine all week long. so thank you. [applause] thank you all for coming out to our ceremonial groundbreaking, which we are calling our first game here in san francisco. this is going to be our eighth school service cafe in the usa.

we have four, going on 5, in canada. we are delighted to be part of san francisco. we have a big customer base, and we are pleased to be able to serve them. i have the honor of introducing our ceo, but before i do that, let me introduce mayor edwin lee. he is out here to join us today. [applause] they i say thank you to all of you distinguished guests, those of you that came in from out of town -- friends and customers. we really appreciate you coming out today. without further ado, may i introduce our ceo, the ceo of savings. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. delighted to be here, and thank you, mayor lee, for joining us,

and guests. if this is a ground-breaking, i have no idea what is going to happen when we actually open the place. but it is nice to be here. i remember four years ago, we took the freedom ride and rode around the bay area and listened to rock music. no idea what we're going to do for an encore, but let me tell you that we are all about leading americans back to savings. we want to help and encourage people to save their money. we want to make banking simple and straightforward, and we think a cafe location is the one place where you can find out that there are real people working here. placer have a cup of coffee, talk about money, meet neighbors, and get involved in what the conversations are all about on the street in san francisco. the and part of the community and part of the people that basically helped lead the right direction in terms of improving everyone's lives, i think ing

direct wants to be part of that. we think that is important for san francisco. the other thing is san francisco is known for a lot of great trends. this location, i think we're going to try to do some unique things in terms of how we can bring money not only to the front pages of newspapers and electronic tablets, but basically to get people to think differently about money and think about building communities in a different way, especially about empowering families. right now, it is always amazing that there is more conversations now about sex and drugs than there is about money, and somehow, you know that world has to change a little bit. i think we want moms and dads to tell their kids how much they are saving and what they are doing with their money as opposed to what they should be doing with the rest of their lifestyle. the other thing i want to say is that san francisco has been a great city. we have a lot of customers here,

and they keep talking about how they love to have a place to basically hang out, and we are pretty excited the next six months to get this place open, to have those conversations and have some of the community involvement that we would like to basically in a carriage. for you that came out today, i want to thank you. let me now turn over the microphone for a few minutes to our mayor, who is hoping that every one of these cars coming by are going to wave and say something positive. ed lee -- mayor lee: thank you. thank you very much and welcome to san francisco. if it was as simple as -- can i buy you a cup of coffee, and can you help me figure out my city's budget deficit? that would be a great way to do things. but i understand the concept. i know you have been an online banking service. this is the foray into doing

more entrepreneurial and inviting people to come into a beautiful building that we have here, some three floors that will be renovated. they are doing it the right way. first of all, they have construction. there are 60 jobs being created here, so that is really important to the city. there will be a call center here, a cafe here, but as importantly, the purpose. the purpose is that you invite people to start talking about their financial situation. art was jokingly saying that the first thing in that code was asking if i could get it home reading because i had a pension reform and i needed to figure something out. i know in people's private lives, there is more financial education that we all need, and especially the families that are challenged here.

i welcome this type of concept because it is going to be important for people to have better financial advice, have places where they can go and exchange that, and have very inexpensive banking services. i think that is the combination, and i'm really excited to have read about this, to understand what it means, and it is a different kind of thing. one that you start making some smart investments, and that is what i think our country needs to do, start making smarter investments, not spending on the first thing that claims about making a whole lot of profit that might not even be there. tech savvy approach. this is fantastic. the way you are doing it, using local businesses and construction, using peats coffee here to welcome the bay area company. in fact, i was telling my wife, her first job was at peak -- pete's coffee. this is the eighth ing direct

cafe in the country. eight is a lucky number. if you know the asian culture. it means prosperity. i know where this is going. by the end of the year, i will be able to come over here and get advice myself. i'm still trying to figure out how in the heck did i take this job that pays less than my last one, and how am i going to figure that financial challenge out? i hope that many residents look to this as an exciting place, understand what they are trying to do here. they are keeping costs down. welcoming the understanding that we need, which is combining the technology we have with the banking that we need any savings that we need. the other thing that ing direct is doing is representing corporate values. not only did i understand what they are doing here by using local firms, but they are also investing in our kids. they have already got books for kids through their foundation going. that is a great promise to also

have books and maybe a preschool agreement that will teach kids early in their savings as well, so get them started on financial understanding. that is all exciting to me. the blend of technology and to have a great cup of coffee here in an atmosphere -- we are right in the center here downtown, across from charles schwab and the other financial institutions in the city, and to make sure we welcome a new generation of people thinking differently. that is always what we have done. i'm glad, and i really want to welcome ing direct and their cafe here. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee. when we started working on the san francisco project last year, one of the things we needed to make sure of was that we selected a design firm that understood our vision for cafes

and not just understand it, but understand the principle behind it. we looked around and interviewed about six creative firms, and i'm very pleased to tell you that pompeii a.d. is the firm that we selected as our design firm, and i would like to introduce you to the principal and creative director. [applause] the low we are extremely pleased that they found us -- >> we are extremely pleased that they found us. there's a story that they told us the first time we met, and it was a delightful story about a cafe in the middle of a city

that was not only a place with its usual fare but also a place of business transactions, a place of socialization, and a place that really allow the participants to invent new things. one of the things that was invented within these walls was bookkeeping. all of this happen while they were talking about their troubles, the philosophies that they encountered abroad, and this cafe was really a hub of commerce, culture, and community, and it existed in 16th century florence. when he told us this story, we thought -- what a vision. what a tremendous vision to want

to be influenced and inspired by that historical event so far away, so long ago, and how we can really apply that to ing direct. ing direct is a place that allows the community, surrounding neighborhoods to be part of it, and we think that this idea of merging commerce, culture, and community is the way to go. the way to allow people to feel comfortable, to feel informed, to learn, to socialize, to be with one another comfortably, to be exposed to information that is new to them in a very easy way to assimilate. we are creating an environment in this building on three levels. there is a ground floor, a lower level and i meant is that have

various opportunities for people to not only become involved with the cafe, but also be involved with one another. we feel this is a very important aspect of the space and the concept we want to recreate what happened in the cafe in 16th century florence by allowing this building, which is surrounded by the financial district, by union square, and by the south of market district, to really we've a tapestry -- to really weave a tapestry of opportunities and events. in the end, that is what we're looking for. not a design but an experience. that experience will be an ing

cafe experience like no other. so thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, ron. likewise, when we start looking out for a general contractor and an architect of record in the san francisco market, one of the things we make sure of is that we support the local businesses. it is really important to us to be very quickly a part of the local community. we looked around and found an organization that has over 15 years of experience in this building. when you get inside, you will see some drawings, historical drawings of the building, and it is amazing the transformation has taken place. the general contracting firm is based just down the street, and its plant construction, and i

have the honor of introducing new. [applause] >> how are you doing? we have been working in san francisco for six years, and we have had almost 30 years experience -- practice of this building right here. we have been happy to work with this group. we have got a very good team assembled, so we will be looking forward to the grand opening right before christmas. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. this group is not going to be new to you. we are a full-service cafe. everybody that works in our cafe

our bankers that just know how to make a great cup of coffee. our coffee is great because of a san francisco brand. pete's coffee handles all of our coffee clear across the nation, so i am really pleased to introduce you to peter klein. [applause] >> this is a great opportunity. usually the coffee guys do not get to come up and speak, so i only have about an hour and a half worth of remarks plan, so get your nice and cold city can get in and enjoy some of our coffee. this is our eighth cafe with ing. we have a great partnership with them.

we go along but, but that is not the reason they select us and that is not the reason we select them. they selected us in san francisco given our long history here. we rode our beans fresh every single day. we had a little argument, though, about our program. they asked us not to include the word fet in coffee, so we finally got over the -- they asked us not to include the word at the -- teh word fee in coffee. they got over that period went up to have a lot of repeat customers and -- enjoying a great coffee and a great experience. thank you. >> thank you, peter. and thank you all for your patience, for waiting out here. we are now going to cut the

ribbon and invite you in. we will be giving tours, and we also have a taste of san francisco waiting for you inside. we are now going to get the business to cut the ribbon.