>> good morning, everyone. welcome to the beautiful and quiet powell street, here in downtown san francisco. i am the director of public works. i am delighted to see all of you here today. we are here for a special occasion, a special group of folks that i want to introduce

before we get going. starting to your far lesft, border supervisor david chiu. sitting next to him, the mayor of our great city, and elite. -- ed lee. [applause] the chief marketing officer for audi america, organizer of this event. [applause] the man whose design we will be enjoying, walter hood. and finally, the director of the business improvement district. [applause] here in san francisco, on a beautiful, sunny day, it is time to celebrate the innovative

spirit of san francisco. we innovate social policy, housing, the environment, on transportation and technology. we innovate when it comes to the weather. we call this summer, here in san francisco. and when it comes to the public way, it is hard to think about innovation. it was billed years ago and it is hard to change, at least that is what some people think. although much of the public rights of way in san francisco take up 25% of our city, they were built generations ago, in a different time to serve different needs with different sensibilities, largely built for people to pass through, as opposed to being in. we are changing that in the city and we are showing that the environment can change for the better.

what we have here today is an exemplar of that. i will let the other speakers tell you more specifically what we are talking about today, but i want to thank some of the folks, besides those up on the stage, who have been a part of making this happen. i will start with the shepherd of this project from the planning department, andres power. [applause] without his work, no question, from navigating the city bureaucracy, working with the city planner, public, this would not have happened without his efforts. from my department, his counterpart, nick ellser. from the mayor's office of workforce development, the mother of our communities in our town, lisa pegan.

and the guy from the mta who gets all the difficult job of figuring out how all this all works, jerry robbins. those are the folks on the city side. there are a lot of other folks to thank, a lot of other work that went into this. but now, it is my pleasure -- this man was progressive before it was cool to be progressive, and he was innovating in the public rights of way before it was cool. as a public works director, he started addressing alleyways in chinatown, in the tenderloin, making them more attractive and welcoming, improving the public realm all over the city. he has since moved on to bigger and better things but has

carried that affect on with him, forcing collaboration between city departments, the private sector, and this is the epitome of the kind of partnership that edwin lee is bringing to the city. it is my pleasure to introduce to you mayor ed lee. [applause] >> good morning, everybody. welcome to union square. one of my favorite places. you may know this, but two- thirds of our annual visitors make their way down here to union square. that is why 10% of our annual sales tax revenue comes from right here. people love coming here, and why not? why not link the historic cable car stop on market street, and make the experience of making up here -- making it up here and

the rest of the city and experience. one of the things that i love is we get to collaborate between our planning department, mta, department of public works, working with the private sector. working with some fantastic designers, like walter, and his fantastic design studio. and gaining the confidence of the people who protect this gem of the city, the business improvement district in union square. i want to thank everyone for coming together and blessing, with the contribution from audi of america, coming together to make these couple of blocks even better, to modernize it, make it even more welcoming, and to make sure that it is people-friendly in every respect. i want to give a shout out to

all of these departments because we are seldom recognized. collaboration is often behind the scenes, but this is out in front for everybody. i want people to get excited about the friendliness of this street, but you are doing to try to change the feeling here, make sure that the experience invites even more people to enjoy union square, powell street, the cable car experience. i also want to recognize the police department. as we transition this landscape, they are going to keep everyone safe, make sure we all have the opportunity to enjoy it. i want to thank everyone for this collaboration. so happy to be part of this. and also to make sure that we are investing and renewing every part of our city, to make sure that the tourists enjoy this area, and even people like

ourselves -- those of us now live in the city -- will love it even more. this will benefit everybody. i also want to introduce another champion, someone that i have worked with closely this past year, who has led a very positive dialogue. that is our board president, president david chiu. [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor. i want to welcome everyone to what mark twain calls a classic summer day in san francisco. i am proud to be here as part of this announcement, and i am here on behalf of my colleague jane kim, who is stuck in city hall. the two of us have the honor of representing the number one place in san francisco where people come to shop, and hello to everyone on the cable cars,

spend time in our incredible city. this is an announcement of how we build 21st century city -- cities, how we can create communities on very busy dance streets. we know it takes a village to create a parklet. i want to thank the city department for being our partners. dpw, oewd, mta -- these acronyms refer to organizations and thousands of hours done to come up with this. three years ago, when i first came into office, a number of merchants from union square came to me and said, david, we would like to tax ourselves more. we would like to triple the size of the business improvement district.

today's announcement is part of that portion of that amazing vision. i want to thank the in square business improvement district for everything you are doing to make union square one of the best attractions that san francisco has to offer. and of course, in closing, one of the most amazing aspects of this partnership happens to be our partnership with the private sector. we could not do this without the generosity of an amazing car company. i do hope in addition to seeing the audi symbol here, i do hope that we see more of them traveling through the city, so feel free to donate any, if you would like. we look forward to continuing this green, clean, community- based transformation that we are undertaking, here in san francisco. have a wonderful day.

>> before i introduce our next speaker, i want to make sure to recognize the very important person on the stage as well. wayne is our ambassador here. he is in bright red. as you know, the business improvement district has been spared in making sure that not only are people safe, but that they are treated well when they come here. that is what keeps the economy going. as david said earlier, audi is a pretty special company. scott, i want to let you know, too, i am jazzed about that car that i want which appeared in the "ironman" movie. when i saw it i said, i want

that kind of car. not only does audi have great style and a great corporate image, but they are a fantastic partner. let me introduce scott of audi of america. [applause] >> it is a great pleasure for me to be here. i am the chief marketing officer for audi of america. it is crucial for companies, not only to celebrate things, but it is also important to do great things. whether you look at the racetracks up le mans, our electronic research lab, here in palo alto, or on the streets of san francisco, it is important to do great things. of course, the concept that our

design and technology can have far reaching ramifications. we spend billions of dollars in research and development, and i think you see a lot of those elements in this design. when we first started making cars out of aluminum frames, they said we were crazy. it turns out, aluminum is stronger and less weight. i think you will get a good sense of that design here. led lighting. people said it was madness to use them in cars. now you see it in every one of our cars and being imitated everywhere. the beautiful lines of our cars, walter had done a great job recreating that a static. and most importantly, wi-fi. -- recreating that aesthetic.

the ideals of audi were brought here to this, not. i am very thankful to be here. this is why it means so much to us. now i want to introduce david, the group president of the business improvement district, here in union square. again, sincere thanks. >> thank you, scott. on behalf of the union square business improvement district, property owners, and the businesses, i would like to thank mayor lee, supervisor david chiu, the city departments, the san francisco municipal transportation agency, and audi of america, and a special thank you to those who supported this trend for this project.

when we embark on this new project, it reminded us of where we have been and where we are going in union square. 164 years ago, jasper overall, who has a street named after him one week away, was commissioned by the city to lay out a design for its streets and parks, including union square. the park's design was designed to be infighting, accessible, beautiful, and memorable. today, architect walter put has applied those same qualities beautifully to the powell street promenade with a contemporary landscape design with features and heard of, like solar technology and wi-fi. o'farrell may not have imagined at the time that 100,000 people would use this street every weekend, making it the busiest

city corridor. now with this promenade, it will be one of the best places to enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city, out of its hustle and bustle by working with the city, audi, and union square business improvement district, we have demonstrated how partnerships can further a vision for a better sense of co that i know we all share. it is a great testament to see the public sector and private sector come together to create something so magnificent. thank you again.

>> thank you to the san francisco giants and all of you for your support of our teachers.

i want to thank the president of the california teachers association and everyone joining me tonight to honor the mayor's teachers award winners. despite the challenges, it is always important to acknowledge and honor the dedication of our s teachers. the honorees tonight were nominated by parents, teachers, peers, and community members who understand the value of excellent teachers.

the people you see standing here tonight have exceeded all standards, dedicated themselves to creating a class room environment that fosters learning, diversity. these teachers are facing a generation of new leaders to create a better world. this honor is a symbol of our immense gratitude for all of their tireless worke. it is my privilege to present this year's teacher of the month award winners. [applause] how about a big hand for all our great teachers? [applause] none of us would be here without them.