introduce to you senator mark leno. [applause] >> good morning, bayview. it does not get much better. i want to join mayor lee in welcoming everybody here and thanking our city librarian and his hard-working staff, the devoted and committed library commissioners, friends of the library folks to raise additional moneys to finish each of these projects. of course, supervisor cohen and weener -- weiner, leland yee as well. i have been not to over 20 of these ribbon cuttings. it is not often we get to say your tax dollars are at work with a smile on our faces, but we can do so today. voters knew what they were doing in 2000 when we passed proposition a, which provided

$106 million for 24 renovations and a few new constructions. this being one of them. yes, this will be a 9000 square foot educational resource center bridging the digital divide with 21st century technology. but probably more importantly, this new branch library will be a house of ideas, a home of dreams, and a home of hope. this will be the heart and soul of the future of bayview. so we are invested in this. we talked to the folks in charge to guarantee we will have a ribbon cutting before the end of 2012. [applause] we are going to keep them to their schedule.

before i sign off, i want to present to linda a proclamation from the state senate banking the bayview branch library for being such an important part of the branch library improvement program and for your dedication to keeping this community intact and understanding the great power and promise of each of our branch libraries. linda? consider this and i know you. -- an iou. >> i just want to take the opportunity to thank ed eiskin -- riskin for his efforts. as well, good luck in your teacher endeavors at the mta. [applause] >> thank you. a couple of folks representing

representative fiona marrow. [applause] where is the energy? there we go. next, we have our board supervisor from this district. she is the envy of other supervisors because she has three new libraries in the district. with that, let us welcome supervisor malia cohen. [applause] >> hello, everybody. good morning. it is a new day. do you believe? i am so humble than excited to be here.

i have personally spent time in the library, growing up with mrs. jones' daughters studying here. here we are on the corner, the process of a new day, a new beginning. i say that optimistically but also cautiously. it is a new day because it is a ground-breaking ceremony and we are moving forward, but we're also continuing the work that many have done before us for this part of the community. [applause] and i highlight particularly our matriarch leaders because they will have a special space in the library. right? just making sure. when you think about a community in transition, like ours, when you put it in context with the challenges we are having, today

is symbolic. today is the day that we break ground, to plant a new seed that will bear fruit. that is exactly what a library does. it houses our culture, traditions, way of life, and it preserves it, and it preserves it for future generations so that they know where they are going and they will also remember where they come from. so when ms. saw the young women here dancing, paying damage -- homage to what i consider sacred land, it is fitting that we come here today. we also come with the knowledge in the reality that we are a community in transition. when you are in transition and growing, you are moving forward. it is important for us to remember continuity as we move forward and continue to build for our future. so with that, thank you to my

colleague scott wiener. i also like to thank my colleagues that came to the bayview, at the town hall meeting a couple of days ago. it is the city family that is going to help us move forward. i specifically want to thank the mayor. this is the man that is unabashed about his support. he is with us 100% of the way. his walk and talk are in unison. i hear him downtown at the chamber of commerce and when he is making presentations to the community. it is consistent, thoughtful, compassionate, and it is real. it is a real talk. he mentioned honoring some of the promises that were made in the past. now here is the day. it is coming. and we will usher in,

collectively, as a community. we have in business leaders here to help us guide through this transformation from point a to point b, and beyond. so with that, this is a positive day. we will continue to take this momentum and move forward and continue to build. [applause] >> thank you, supervisor. indeed, a positive day. i also want to take a moment to acknowledge the terrific support we have had a leading up to this groundbreaking. former supervisor sophie maxwell. she may be here later on today. she was fantastic to secure funds. supervisor cohen alluded to the support from other mr. supervisors. it is my pleasure to introduce supervisor scott wiener. [applause] >> thank you and congratulations

to everyone on this amazing progress. all the three branch libraries in my district were open before i took office, so i like to live vicariously through my colleagues to help celebrate something so important. in a time when we all get down on our city government for not doing as well as we want them to do, in terms of services, what our government has been able to do with renovating and opening libraries, helping to build communities in the neighborhoods is critical. i am optimistic for third street. this is a big part of moving this entire corridor forward. i also want to reiterate something the mayor said. i have the fortune of working with malia cohen. we sit on a land use committee together. she is a tenacious advocate for

district 10. she is doing a great job and i am proud to call for my colleague. congratulations, everyone. [applause] >> thank you. my next introduction is someone bittersweet. i know mark leno already did knowledge then risk and -- ed riskin. it is dpw's loss, but it will be mta's game. i know that i will be able to call on him for ongoing report -- support. so with that, it is my pleasure to introduce ed riskin. [applause] >> thank you. it has been a long time coming. the people in the bayview hunters point has it been patient as this project has taken its course. we are delighted to be here today to celebrate a great neck step in this project.

the department of public works has the pleasure of working with the library management and commission, and with the community to help envision what the library is that they want. once that is done, our job is to get it done and to work with all the people to get it designed, built, stalked, staff, and opened. this is where the rubber really hits the road for us. we have been engaged in this project for a long time, but now we need to make sure that you will get a library that you want and deserve. in doing so, it takes -- to use a corny cliches -- it takes a village to build a library. it takes a lot of people to come together to make a project like this happen. our commitment to you is to build a library that you want, that is safe and secure, that is inviting, functional, modern. a place that you want to be.

a place where you want your kids to be. and that will be done on every hand library that we work on in this city. additionally, what we want to do -- and this is that the direction of the mayor and supervisors, former supervisors, and the community, we want to leave a legacy of not only a beautiful library, but of opportunity. that opportunity is in the form of business, for small businesses in this neighborhood, jobs for people in this neighborhood. so not only do we get out of this at the end of the day a great library but we did people who have been put to work who have built their skills. we did businesses that have grown at as a part of this process, and we are working extremely hard to make sure that we not only did a great library built, but that local businesses, local residents --

and i mean very local residences -- getting the benefit of the library being built. that is a very important commitment of hours. we will continue to do everything we can to make that happen. there are a number of people in the village that i would like to thank. so many that i had to write them down. first of all, the people that work with the community to come up with the design that you ultimately approved. we have caring and maria from the architecture design company. [applause] it will be a beautiful library. the mayor already made reference to these guys, but we went through a competitive process to find the very best folks we could find to build this library. we are very fortunate that the

winners that emerged from that process or bayview kck contractors. freddie carter is not only the vice-president, superintendent on this job, he was our first local higher on this job. he is -- this is his local library. i will not tell you what his address is, but he can walk home after this is done. if anybody is going to get this library done right, with people from the bayview benefiting from it, it is going to be freddie carter. what we did is rather than award one big contract that other folks could be competitive for, we broken up into a lot of pieces so that we could maximize opportunity for local business. we have a large number of local

businesses. i think we already have tens subcontractors from the bayview who are going to be working on this project. one of them already started and cleared the space here. we want to give a shout to oliver transbay. another great firm benefiting from your tax dollars. derek has been making sure that we do the out reach so that we do not miss an opportunity for companies to participate. and then we are working with our partners within the government. one of the mayor's former departments, romulus, has been working with us. we have odierno rodriguez, ken, and others making sure that we maximize opportunities. one of their big partners when they're working in this

neighborhood is abu. we are working closely with them. i want to give a shout out to them. we want to see more local residents getting work. [applause] and then the rest is up to us, dpw, working with the library. the guy that will be working day to day with freddie, our resident engineer, garland wong. he will be living here and will not sleep until this library is done. he is supported by several wonderful people. lina chen is managing all of these projects. [applause] i also wanted knowledge of our other local hire, deputy director, muhammed nuru.

always working for the baby. we are honored to be able to work on this for our community, who is so deserving and has been so patient. we are going to get people to work in the process and we are all going to be very happy here at the ribbon cutting and a little bit over by year. [applause] >> i think you can all see a pattern. this is all about local ownership. thank you for making this happen. i want to acknowledge and invite to the podium the leader of our library commission. no one demonstrates leadership better than jule gomez. [applause] >> thank you. it is my honor to serve the citizens of the city as the head of the library commission. i got lost on my way here. i asked two people.

you ask one person and then you have to ask the second person to make sure the first person knew what they were saying. everyone knew where the library was. i took a wrong turn on silver and they set me in the right direction. that says something about the community. people know where the library is. this community has suffered a lot of loss, feeling a lot of sadness. but this is all so a very full community. it is full of families, full of pride, full of hope. it is very full of possibility for what will happen in the future. and you are going to need a lot of community togetherness to get to that future. in the beginning was the word.

the library will have the words you will ever need. come on down when it opens. [applause] >> thank you so much. also, michael brier, thank you for joining us. we're almost there, folks. but we have an important person i want to invite to the podium. the friends of the library to an amazing job of raising funds at the community level to ensure all of the furniture, technology, and everything else is in place. let's give a round of applause to the executive director of friends of the library. donna? [applause] >> good morning, everyone. so pleased to be here. not only not but last me -- not but -- last and not least, but last but most important.

this community has done such a beautiful job envisioning this library, what is important, how it needs to work into the priorities of their community. i want to thank all of these kids in the red t-shirts. [applause] they are here, exemplifying why the rest of us are here. we are so excited to see the day when you come rushing in and pick up those brand new books off the shelves. it will be a great day. so many of you have participated and given your wisdom and vision. we want to thank everyone of you. we have a great committee working on this project. you may know that we are raising money to provide all of the furnishings, the things that feel -- fill the building to make it feel like home. so i would like to ask all of you who participated, who are

part of the committee, who have been helping us along with the vision, to raise your hand so that people can know. thank you. [applause] i want to encourage everyone, it is not too late to be part of this. when we are back here cutting the ribbon in one year, we want to be able to have everyone feel like they were part of this, that they had a hand in it. many of those folks can let in know how to participate. i want to recognize a couple of local businesses that have helped. lowe's and brought over a carpet so that our young ladies could do some dancing. one of the great part of being in this part of the city is wendy's cheesecake.

before you go, make sure you get a wonderful slice of that delicious cheesecake. come on in and join us. we will all be celebrating again soon. [applause] >> thank you, donna. guess what, folks? we are almost there. i also want to point out this is multi generational. thank you, mrs. fuller, who is seated right here in front. she is the wife of the late mr. fuller, from the pharmacy here in the bayview. talk about wanting to see this come to fruition. thank you for being here today. also a shout out to the footprints, the community organization. thank you for your engagements and involvement in making this happen. here we are. we are going to ask the dignitaries to grab a shovel.

we are going to have a countdown and then we will get this done. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. [applause]

>> very good. perfect timing, mayor. [applause] >> actually, mayor, i was just at the part of the program where i was going to introduce. it is now my pleasure to introduce the honorable edwin lee, the honorable mayor of the city and county of san francisco? would you mind saying a few words? >> well, thank you. i guess my timing is still ok. everybody, thank you for being here. housing, and especially affordable housing, is such a challenge these days. with the economy the way it is, with the lack of help we get from the feds and the state, we have to do a lot on our own. that means we have to have the most creative people working in

partnerships with the other committed creative people in our community. so it is no wonder you have got the union bank, wells fargo working together with the federal home loan bank. you've got the institute of aging working with bridge housing. you've got redevelopment working with the mayor's office. everybody, including our public health department, all putting their best synergies together to create this fantastic place that when i walked in, the first thing i asked was where was my unit. just to understand, you have 125 units, 25 of which are going to be targeted for our most frail, our most vulnerable, sitting on top of two floors of fantastic health -social service-corrective type supportive things we did do for

our seniors. it is that type of magic that says only in san francisco can we open this kind of thing up like this when everybody else is talking about layoffs, shutting down, not getting started, not even having good conversations at all. take a look around you. i think we are really lucky to be in a city to have people that are so committed to working together. and i wallace want to -- also want to thank everybody. the neighborhoods had the problem with the size and the mass, and we found a way to get through that, to find a common agreement, to look forward to a day like this to see the seniors as happy as they are to have an affordable unit here in the middle of our great city. this is a wonderful plushment, and i know there was a lot of sweat, a lot of tears behind doing all of this, and i want to thank everybody involved in it. especially bridge. you are such a magnifique

accept housing provider and developer. you have done wonderful things working alongside the institute. it is a marvelous combination. i am here to say thank you to everybody who participated in this. as i saw down it street, looking to see what we were going to do with the old coronet, how it was going to be here and how it was going to transform, and i am so glad so many people made this happen. for future generations of people who are going to come here, serviced here, live here in a comfortable way, and then to make sure this serves as yet another example as to why we fight for redevelopment, why we do things right in the city. to make sure fred maxwell, doug and others keep these examples coming. in san francisco, we will continue doing it right. now they don't get paid up there until they start listening to people and getting the work done.

thank you very much for this opportunity. [applause] >> mayor, thank you so much four thoughts, and he about couldn't agree with you more. i have to say that the redevelopment agency, the city and county of san francisco, have been stellar partners for bridge, and we appreciate your candid attitude. thank you very much, and i would like to give you this as an appreciation. >> well, thank you very much. [applause] >> another great partner of bridge's --