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]

>> i am one of the board members for the burning man project. welcome to the plaza and the launch. [applause] we are so thrilled to be here in the tenderloin. we're thrilled to create relationships, to work with other people, and make something crazy and magical happened here. we're also extremely happy to be working with the san francisco city itself, with the

reinvigoration efforts happening. we have two esteemed people with us from the city. we have mayor ed leave with us. [applause] -- we also have mayor ed lee with us. and from the board of supervisors, david chu. please come and join us. [applause] >> thinks ank you. it may be premature, but welcome home fellow burners. it is great.

there are invitations going on for that burning man. i am going to call our board president, david chu, to come up here and join us. he plays a mean violin already. i am also going to invite supervisor eric mar, who is the only one of us who has been to burning man. i will say this. the burning man project has been a wonderful contributor to our central market cultural district. working with our office of economic development and the wonderful staff, you are working

with the arts commission trying to liven up and insight the arts community -- excite the arts community to look at where we have vacancies and put life into them through art. there is so much to do. art is about life, activity, and people. it is about creating relationships. i want to thank all of you for being here to share your wonderful friday with us. we have the music to keep the center. now we can go crazy again. i not only have an announcement the burning man launched tonight, but there are so many other wonderful things being attracted to this area. i want to thank hal for the

camera work. you are around the corner. that is because you are working with will and maddie thatcher. they've come to work together to enliven the effort to create a place where the underserved youth can learn about camera works. this is been on my mind for a long time. do you know the old original joe's place? they have brought in a theater piano fight. that is a wonderful addition. it will be starting this fall.

the dugan family will locate in north beach. i have been a patron of the original joe's for many years. i want to specifically thank the piano and fight -- piano fight theater. thank you for starting the wonderful theater. i know you will be asking for a grant. you have been a wonderful partner in looking out for the start-ups and helping them along, helping to identify where they can be and how they can get started. we both started the arts

foundation at the corner of sixth and market. there are so many people to thank tonight. i wanted to begin with this list, the freshest efforts to start up. it is a signal to you that we want to thank you all for reinvigorating this central market with your arts activity, innovation, enthusiasm. there is not going to be a store front available in the next year. it will be filled with arts, people, and businesses, and residents who will come to celebrate this. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] >> it is friday. who is excited to be a san franciscan? it is wonderful to see everyone here.

i want to acknowledge my colleague because he is the only member of the board of supervisors who has gone up to burning man. i know that will change. mayor lee and i were joking that we were thinking about going up there to resolve and worked out all of the issues with city council up in the desert. what do you think, mayor lee? whatever it takes, bringing people together to get it done. that is what we want to do with burning man. san francisco has been a beacon to the entire world for creativity and innovation. i want to thank you all for representing the very best of what that is all about. i also want to welcome you to this neighborhood. the tenderloin and mid market area is so grateful for all the changes we know will happen in the coming years. this year alone, we are bringing

twitter to this area. we're bringing artists and theaters. we're bringing new hamburger joints and we are bringing burning man. i want to thank the burning and project for being on the edge of creative culture. you represent with the greatest partnerships are about, what happens when you bring the public and private sectors together. i know this project will be reaching out to children in the tenderloin. and want to thank you for doing that. i also want to thank burning man for one of the quality we like here in san francisco -- one here in san francisco -- one other quality we like here in