>> you can see that it is amazing. you can hear that it is refreshing. you reach for it because it is irresistible. and the taste. simply delicious. san francisco tap water. it engages the senses. 311 is an important resource for all san franciscans. shou >> here to introduce major -- mayr ed lee is the executive president for wells fargo, our title sponsor today.

michael is responsible for wells fargo's san francisco bay area region. 2600 team members. 139 banks stores or branches and more than $31 billion in deposits. michael is a longtime bay area resident focused on the bay area economy. wells fargo is leading the way. please help me welcome him to the stage. michael. [applause] >> thank you and good morning, everyone. it is my great pleasure this morning to introduce our next speaker, mayor ed lee. since taking office in january,

he's made tremendous progress in a short time. he's been dedicated to preserving san francisco's dynamic work force and the creation of new jobs, which i know is important to this audience. is committed to affordable housing and education and worked diligently to close the budget deficit. his experience and dedication to san francisco are irrefutable, having spent over 22 years in public service. at wells fargo, we share the mayor's commitment to san francisco. we are one of the oldest companies doing business here. we're the largest private employer and one of the top corporate philanthropists in san francisco. wells fargo, the san francisco chamber of commerce are honored to have him here today. please welcome mirkarimi -- mayor ed lee. [applause] mayor lee: good morning. all right. it is great to be in the city of

san francisco because we are doing everything right. i know they only gave me 10 minutes this morning. i could probably talk for hours about what we're doing in our city to make sure it is economically strong, but finally have 10 minutes, it is going to be about jobs, jobs, and more jobs. [applause] that is what we have to do in this city. i want to speak on the state of our city's economic climate. in order to have a city that is, as you have heard me say time and time again, that is safe, solvent, and successful, we need to invest in our residents, in our businesses here, and in our city. that is why jobs and our business climate are the top party is that my administration will continue to push very hard. that means creating and retaining jobs and creating the conditions for businesses to start and grow and prosper in our great city. today, san francisco's

unemployment rate is 9%. while that is the third lowest in the whole state, we can still do better than that. i would like to turn that 9 right on its head to a six. that is where we need to be right from the start. the good news is that san francisco is resilient and we have proven that we can compete and win business is even in the most toughest economic times. we are home to over 550 technology companies. 74 life sciences companies, and more than 200 clean tech and green businesses. our growth is very steady. that is why i'm happy to be here this morning to share the stage with wells fargo and the chamber of commerce and again, to compliment wells fargo because i see them all over our city along

with creating businesses and jobs. it is not just about making money. it is also about how you use that money to improve lives in our city. that has been my philosophy as a non-politician, to make sure that everybody's investment -- there is not only a return on that, but that investment is also in the quality of life for people in the city. i will continue making growth and success of our technology industry. central market payroll tax exemption. we pass that in april, and now look at twitter. they are spending their $15 million. to retrofit the furniture market, and permits are already being drawn. so you have the anchor right in front of you being created on central market. we passed the stock options tax

exclusion, and working with the board again, just like we did for the payroll tax exemption, working closely with the board of supervisors, making sure they all understand the value of making sure that our technology companies have a chance to grow in this city and making sure we do not punish job creation, making sure that the stock options was something we paid attention to, that all these companies that are turning the corner on their growth have a chance to succeed. we are meeting with ceo's of technology companies. every other week, i have a meeting with one of these ceo's. a new name -- the ceo of zendesk. we just opened their office on 6 and market just last week. as they opened, they announced that they are growing from 80

people to 150 by the end of this year. they are the very first company to take exact advantage of applying for the payroll tax exemption on mid market. then, they hear on the very same night almost, two nights later, the he joins marc benioff in raising funds for the new ucsf children's hospital and donates $1 million just that night. that is a wonderful contribution to our city. the commitments being made from the tech companies to be part of this great city served as an economic foundation for our whole approach to welcoming technology companies. in addition to twitter and zendesk, we have autodesk.

i have been meeting with them every six months because every six months, i think they are going to expand another 25,000 or 30,000 square feet. he wants to expand the product he has with the new three- dimensional use by literally everyone in the entertainment industry as well as the building industry, making the product completely successful. that adds to zynga and mozilla and all the other tech companies moving in, so i am convinced that tech -- san francisco remains the industry leader. of the 4.6 million square feet of office space that was least in the last eight months, in 2011, 1.6 million square feet of office space was leased by technology firms alone. these include twitter, zendesk

autodesk, dropbox and kabam. technology is also an important driver in our economy, not only with the technology companies that are moving in, but also the biotech, the clean tech, and the retail. in fact, if you heard yesterday, it was really need to open up the very first of a company that is using again arts to help build their business, and that was heath ceramics. do not know if you saw that. we opened that in the mission area. 35 employees will start there in a model of months. they will be making their

decorative ceramics that have already shown up in places like sf moma and some of the very beautiful ceramics they have to display, but also dinner were showing up in places like slanted door and some of the other places that are very first class industry. they will be manufacturing that very clay products, particularly the decorative ceramic right here in san from cisco, hiring 35 employees to do that work. again, in addition to the technology companies and some of the blue-collar companies that are moving in, we also have -- just this july, we introduced an announced china synergy in our inner solar solar conference -- we announced they are moving in, a major chinese solar company

firm decided to locate their north american headquarters here in san francisco. this marks the sixth china solar firm in san francisco to locate here. in addition to that, pfizer center moved in. they are occupying 11,000 square feet, but they have committed for the next five years to work with ucsf, the wonderful relationship we are establishing with them. they are committing up to $100 million in joint projects. that is pfizer. bayer health-care similarly. they are collaborating with ucsf and started opening 50,000 square feet. tiyoga energy announced their headquarters move from silicon valley to our financial district. then, you may have heard a few months ago, we opened a target

at the new metric on. in may, i broke ground -- actually, i took a sledgehammer and hunched a hole into a wall because that is going to be a project that creates 1300 jobs in our city, generating $4.4 million annually to our local economy while bringing in not just target but 20 new businesses in that center. of course, you may have heard that we open up the second fresh and easy store in bayview. that started and open up just at the end of last month, and it is their second store. first one was in richmond, and these two stores will serve their communities, but the nice thing about -- in addition to their healthy food that they are serving -- they are doing the right thing by hiring locally. the fresh and easy store in bayview -- 72% of their employees are san francisco residents. that is a wonderful contribution

to our city. also want to thank china sf. that was something rapid ga -- that favin new -- that gavin newsom created. i want to thank him because he started many of these programs that i get to help out with. this was one of those because it helps us have a direction and a presence in the developing country of china and make sure that our offices in shanghai and beijing were successful in recruiting not only the seven solar companies -- the five solar companies that are here in san francisco from china, but they are part of some 13 companies that have already located here of different industries from china. it really makes sense that we recruit. at the same time, while locating tiny companies here to open their markets and least our office space and create their

out -- and growth, we are introducing u.s. companies to china in the very same fashion. we will be announcing a trip shortly, hopefully by the end of this year to bring over a number of great san francisco headquartered companies to make sure that they need their counterparts in china. of course, tourism continues to be our very big number one, but a lot of the other industries are closing very fast, for very good reason. still, $8 billion infusion every single year by our tourism industry makes our city very focused on this industry. just this past week, last week, dream force was in town. 40,000 people registered for that convention over four days. they are growing so fast, we had to give them howard street. they are going to take over howard street yet again next year as they continue to grow,

and guess what their economic impact was to the city for that four day conference. $43 million in four days. they busted out some 48,000 units of hotels during that time for their guests. you can see them all over the place. it was a wonderful contribution, and we are continuing to do that. that is also a reflection not only of the strong tourism convention that we have, but we are smartly investing in the upgrading of mosconi center. that is a $55 million decision we made about a year ago where smg visitors convention bureau, our travel agency working alongside with the newly formed tdi -- the tourism district investment that we have there, raising money to invest in upgrading of mosconi center, which had not been upgraded.

now, it has new movable walls, new bathrooms with icons or pictures of all of our city to welcome in and make sure the experience continues to be positive. our tourism sector is set to grow also with america's cup. 34th america's cup beginning actually next year and culminating in 2013. the initial projections show that that event will bring in 5.5 million visitors along with over $1 billion of economic impact to our city. we will continue to make sure that america's cup is focused on organizing on four basic principles -- resourced efficiency, environmental sustainability, strategic adaptability, and a positive legacy that whenever we do has a longer term out, and benefit to our city. everything from the environment to transportation, to moving people around, to making sure

even the way we pick up trash and the way people behave will be long lasting legacies for them. along the area of development projects, last year, working with the board of supervisors, we approved a development of over 5 million square feet of commercial space. 24,000 new units of housing. that, combined with all of these projects, will bring 14,000 permanent positions and 4700 annual construction jobs to san francisco. these economic impact our in addition to $650 million in public benefits that go towards affordable housing, street improvements, and transportation infrastructures. this unprecedented level of growth comes from just three projects -- treasure island, hunters point shipyard to candlestick point, and part merced. as you know, we are making sure

that treasure island gets of redevelopment -- making sure that treasure island gets built, despite the obstacles in redevelopment. that means you will have 18,000 new homes, 300 acres of parks and open space, and the project will be built out in four phases, but it will end up supporting 10,000 new construction jobs. in the hunters point shipyard and candlestick, we got a great lift last week when hud and the neighborhood choice program came into town and announced significant in reflection of the way we have done this project, the $30.5 million grant to alice griffith. that was a wonderful shot in the arm and confirms again the vision that gavin newsom started

and i get to help make sure gets done, every mayor since that time has made that commitment. we get to see it for like being carried out with the residents living on that site and working to transform their lives in a positive way, and of course, parker said. i think the first and we created increase density on the city. guess what -- over 55 new homes, 300,000 square feet of commercial space will be added, completely through private investment, and reflective of the faith we have in the 1500 rent-controlled apartments will be rebuilt with an unprecedented level of protection to ensure the rights of existing tenants. that project will prove to be a great project for our city, and at the end of the planning process, the western neighborhoods could see a significant capital

transportation investment, including separating the air motion view from the 19th avenue and extending muni metro to daly city bar. that will be people using public transportation, making sure that we reduce vehicles. i know later on the my good colleague and director of the office of economic and workforce development will be speaking later on the program and will be explaining all the developments in our projects, but i do want to give you an update on a couple of other things. redevelopment, as you know, we are as a result of what the state did in eliminating, making the move to eliminate redevelopment, and then asking us -- if that was the right word -- to contribute. i think our contribution wind up

being about $20 million to reinstate our local development. those two bills are being challenged in court, and the supreme court has indicated in their scheduling process that a resolution of the legality of those two bills will be decided by january of next year. so we have to hold on at this time. all the projects are kind of frozen until the decision has been made. prior to that, of course, you knew that we fought very hard to protect our redevelopment agency because we did it right in the city, and everybody in sacramento knows that. they know that we build affordable housing. we contributed to schools, to open space, and we created an environment for our investors to have faith that their projects and money and investments would be protected. we did it all right, and despite that, the governor and legislature had to do what they did and will be looking at that very closely and keeping tabs on it and making sure that we align ourselves with whatever the law

ultimately will require of us. but we will keep some form of redevelopment to make sure that we are able and capable of using tax increment dollars for the future. we have done it right, and you see all of the development right here in mission bay as a result of using tax increment properly. i mentioned earlier that we have been paying very close attention and will continue to make sure central market is redeveloped, and we are revitalizing that. you have seen all the activities that we have. that is the result again of having a payroll tax exclusion, an economic strategy, working in partnership with a number of different financial institutions as well as different city departments, creating tax increment financing, making sure there is a multi-agency approach to a better market street initiative. that was recently awarded by

caltrans to make sure we continue that effort of forming through the leadership a 15- member advisory committee to keep improving market street and consider those ideas to making sure transportation is moving smoothly as well as all of the other things that make great streets. the central market district loan fund -- $11.5 million to dedicate a small but a -- to dedicate to small businesses. that is why you see pearl's deluxe burger is that will open very shortly. i am missing a great hamburger on mid-market. also attracting new small businesses. huckleberry bicycle will be relocating there, and they are a receiver on our loan packages already. then, continuing to work with our whole our arena of arts groups and recruiting arts. whether it is burning man, the great arts foundation, arts in

the store fronts, our arts commission -- everyone is working together to make sure that art is a great and producer of both businesses and foot traffic into that central market, and that is going very well. because already, as you may have heard when we unveiled the redoing of those old advertising prints on the brick buildings above the original joe's, we also announced that same day that while the original joe's as a restaurant will not come back there, new arts attendance will be in the very same site. piano fights these arts organizations are really helping us see us revitalize taylor street right intimate market. you also have a higher degree of safety. the substation will be completed

by early winter and we will have a substation that will have patrols of officers to make sure. we are going to work with the community and supervisor kim to recreate the ambassador program there and make sure we have additional eyes and ears holon market to fifth to 11th, to make sure that people feel safe, particularly during the hours in which people work. these days, when you have tech companies there, they are working at 10:00, 11:00 at night. they are not really paying attention to anyone else. the programming of the arts. we will continue working on the un plaza. off the grid, the arts festival coming up at the end of the month into early october, on u.n. plaza, that will reflect our commitment to working closely with our program to

revitalize middle-market. finally, as you know, can we said this at a time when we introduced the payroll tax exemption, that is just the beginning. i want to continue working with all the business groups in the city to make sure that we redo the tax system not lose the revenue that we have had but also not the job punishing. in order for us to continue this effort that we started, i want to make sure that you know that i am welcoming all the members of this body here, the chamber, to work with us for the next year, with the board of supervisors and redo our peril taxes and completely. we are giving our self the year. we want to get everyone's input. it will be very complicated.

but again, what isn't complicated in san francisco? i want to get past nudity and get into the tax base. that will be the challenge. this is a summary of everything we are doing. i know gen will go into detail. i wanted to make sure that you know that as long as i am in room 200, i will be about job creation, about making sure that people's investment here has a return and that people have faith in the city. this is still a great city. walking together with senator feinstein to the white house, we had that talk about how great the city was, when she redid that investment in the cable car system, used the compassion of the the city to recover from low market death. we have the same challenge in front of us. i want to make sure that you know every day my commitment

will be to make sure people's investments, whether it is families they create here, whether they bought a house that is more expensive than any part outside of new york, or whether you invested in a small business or medium-size business, or part of a larger investment, or you want to tap the great work of course we have here, we need to make good decisions in this city. we need to focus and concentration on economic stability. we need job growth and job creation. you have my 100% commitment to do this every day diamond office. thank you. [applause]