priorities. he is a candidate for mayor. we wish him well in that race and continuing to do the good work for this great city. please welcome san francisco mayor, ed lee. [applause] ♪ >> good morning. how is everybody? all right, all right. well, you know, we're going to need your help. first, i want to thank all of you for being here this morning. it is my pleasure to join this group and to report to you everything that we're doing. as you can tell, i am kind of excited about this city. it is worth everything that we can possibly do to continue its success. and i want to thank all of you, because every one of you are engaging yourself in this wonderful effort to create jobs and make sure we have a stable economic climate and a bank sure

we're making the right decisions at city hall. i also want to make sure that i thank the team that was assembled even before it became your interim mayor. people like jennifer and john ram and ed riskin, monique at the port, and a wonderful teams of people i have had the privilege of working with. i also want to thank gavin newsom, because he has such a vision for this city. i got to work with the men inherit this wonderful effort that is going on, and then put my own little color in a scheme in blessings on and so many other things to get things done. i am going to talk a little bit this morning about business growth, a central market, development projects before john mack those you in with a lot of the details, and get you involved in the wonderful environmental impact plans that we all have. then a little bit about our

payroll tax. before i do that, i do want to say that we are going to need all of you to be part of a little miracle prayer for our giants this next week. [laughter] you know, obviously it is something we're all watching. but they are going to need a little bit of a miracle. that says to me that when it comes to our economy and job creation, we cannot depend upon any miracles at all. we have to stay focused, the professional, and stay engaged in our business community. we have to make right decisions every day. yesterday i was at a very successful launch of a little program was started in hunters point called college track. it takes some of the most challenged, low-income kids in our mission in neighborhoods and gets them into a track on college. and these kids, from high school

all the way to hopefully when they are admitted to some of the best colleges in the bay area or the country, they're sacrificing their personal time to stay away from all of the distractions that we may read about that happens with kids around the bay area. and in that exchange that i had with them, they said -- i said, if you do your job and you make it through and you focus on your education, we will be there with those jobs in san francisco for you. the high-tech, life sciences, bio sciences, the jobs that salesforce is promising, the jobs that twitter is already doing, and others will be there with the best paying jobs if you do your part. that is the promise i want to carry out with all of you. because if we're not creating jobs, what are we doing in the city? that is what i will ask myself every day as a walk down the hall. i get to do that every day, right? i will look at all the pictures

down the hallway, and they have been great mayors. it is my turn to make sure we're on the right path. so thank you for joining me today. if we're going to have a city that is safe, sullivan, and successful, we need to invest in our residents and our businesses right here in our city. what i am going to do is help the staff run through this. because if they can keep up with the slides, you will see pictures of the things i am talking about. hopefully that will resonate with you as i summarized the things we're doing in our business world and in our decision making good that is what jobs and business climate are my top priorities. that means creating and retaining jobs, and creating the conditions for businesses to start here, stay here, and took root -- and to grow right here in san francisco. in our current economic state, in august, the unemployed married in san francisco fell a little bit, to 8.8%, from 9.1%

in july. this is still the third lowest in california, and we can and we will do better. the good news is that san francisco is resilient. and we proved that we are competing and winning businesses, even in these tough economic times. san francisco is home to more than 1500 technology companies. 74 life science companies. more than 225 clean tech and green businesses. and that, my friends, translates into real estate. in the first six months of 2011, more than 4.6 million square feet of office space was leased4 in san francisco leased.6 million. 1.6 million square feet or biotech firms alone. new and expanding technology firms, names you have already

heard and may yet have heard. autodesk, mozilla, ancestry.com, yammer, and of course twitter, like you have heard about before. the numbers show that innovation is the key driver of our san francisco economy. it shows that we are a city of innovation and dr. per number two dare to think big and to think outside of the box. -- and entrepreneurialism who dare to think big. there is gaining in cloud computing. san francisco is home to the companies and top leaders that we're putting the in violation -- innovation envelope and key knowledge sectors. we draw our inspiration from being a diversity, a beautiful city to live in, and an international city. it is a place where people come to discuss and nurture new ideas. we are important people, always

working to make things better. it is in that spirit that i want to talk about our efforts on central market. i made revitalizing central market a signature economic development initiative, and the keystone is the central market payroll tax exclusion. the payroll tax exclusion incentivizes companies to both invest in midmarket and create jobs. i want to recognize supervisor kim and board president david hitchiu for their work with me. this is part of a broader strategy that includes redesigning the street and sidewalks for the better market street initiative. that is a streetscape overhaul that will result in a more attractive, walkable, and business-friendly corridor. the project is in its planning phase right now, and it will be implemented from the ferry building two octavia boulevard

in 2015. and the street is -- when the street is repaid. public safety enhancements along market street. in 2012, the midmarket bus station will be open on sixth street. we're also going to partner with the community benefit district to expand coverage of the safety ambassadors, in addition to policing the area. in fact, the safety ambassadors, we plan to hire people from the community to be an additional eyes and ears. because as you know, when you talk to these young technology entrepreneurs and their employees, they're not looking at the st. half the time. they're on their side -- they're not looking at the street have the time. they're on their ipad or phones. but they also want to be safe. cultivation of art and culture in the area through recruitment and galleries and theaters, as

well as restaurants and nightclubs. they draw visitors to the area. you are seeing that happen already. that is an exciting part of our midmarket. we have seen a positive effect on the successes in central market already, with companies like twitter. as you know, they are staying in san francisco and leased up 200,000 square feet. this is the largest tech build of the year so far, and they plan to open in 2012. on what you think twitter and the shorensteins for doing this. $80 million in retrofitting the building. then twitter comes in. one decision, $95 million immediate infusion into our economy right there at ninth and market. i just opened the offices of zen desk, the online help desk.

they actually have a cubicle for me with my picture and my wife's picture. they promised that cubicle will be ready if something happens i do not expect on voting day. [laughter] they will grow from 80 to 150 employees right there as central market. i also want to say that these tech companies are not really big job-creators. i have to say, certainly, as you know already with the contributions to our wonderful city and with the owner of zen desk, in their one night of amassing $5 million to build a children's hospital. we're looking at people joining the great names of levi's and rosenbergs and charles schwab and others to be the new generation to add to our philanthropic corporate citizenship peter i am excited

about that. new small businesses along a central market, local -- huckleberry bicycles, at san francisco camera work, deluxe burger is, and off the grid. they are opening towards this year with the help of our office of economic development. the adjoining arts district, blackrock, llc, you know that is the parent company for burning man. they moved their central offices to central market. they provided 20-foot street sculptures in the area. you have seen the man walked around them. i have. very exciting. we're continuing arts in the storefront for the second year. we're moving in on u.n. plaza the arts market and central parts market. looking forward, we have a central market economic strategies that will be finalized this fall. the strategy provides a road map

for deploying city and private resources by prioritizing the policies necessary to bring out the transformation of central market. in terms of small business support, central market cultural district loan fund. that is a city-created $11.5 million pool of low-interest small business loans which companies have already used to start new businesses. the businesses in the arts group recruiting and matching, technical assistance, that partnership with the website at love this city to launch a website for the posting of locating real estate in central market. the service is free for landlords and tenants and can be accessed through the new website, www.centralmarketpartnership.org . let's talk about our financial district. it remains the hub of our city's finance and professional services. but it is also growing to

include the coleen tech sector. san francisco is home to 225 clean tech and green tech businesses. a high concentration right in downtown san francisco. san francisco is home to leading cluster of solar firms, which include more than 45 companies representing the top solar companies, developers, and installers. downtown is already home to suntech, sun run, photo washeo renewable, and others whose names i cannot pronounced. yet, this past year, that trend has continued. just recently, earlier this week, as you may have heard, i announced a launch of green star, the first green tech accelerator in san francisco.

i love that word, accelerator. we do not have time to waste, not only when it comes to job creation, but when it comes to our environment and reducing co2 emissions, we do not have time to waste. we've got to get those emissions down. i cannot think of a better way to do it than to have a clean tech accelerator attract and stimulate the real new ideas that are coming out. the first four start-ups in san francisco are these. those are the four companies that have started. every three months, they're going to name four new companies to get the advantage of their common not only space, their introduction to angel investors and capital investors. i will be there in december when these companies make their first financial pitch to investors. they have some great ideas and some very serious marketing ideas that we're going to want to support. a company called china synergy.

at the conference in july of this year, i announced that china synergy, which is a major chinese solar firm, decided to locate their north american headquarters in san francisco's financial district of this marks the fifth chinese solar company to locate in san francisco. that success for that organization that has been so collaborative, one that gavin newsom started and i get to continue, called china sf, an ambitious initiative focused on attracting the north american headquarters of chinese companies entering the u.s. market. tioga energy, its solar development company, moved their headquarters from silicon valley to our financial district. their main reasons included the city's strained in financial- services, the robust talent, and of course our cities and matched policy leadership on sustainability issues.

and the reasons for this success is clear. san francisco has led the way, with all the environmental policies and aggressively seeking to address the environmental problems of our age. people are taking note of this. san francisco was recently named the greenest city in north america by vehemence corporation an economist. we leave this corporation in carbon reduction, recycling and composting, the adoption of solar, energy efficiency, and vehicle technologies. water conservation in green building. if that is not enough happening in our financial district, i also want to let you know that we're going to rebuild that all u.s. mint right there it fit than mission, to make sure we have our san francisco historic museum alive and well, so we can connect our history to where we're going as a city.

let me speak a moment about our transbay terminal. the transbay terminal and the surrounding district are setting the stage for the next generation of clean, sustainable transportation, and extending downtown further south. in our transit center, 1 million square feet transit center, to accommodate bus and high-speed rail. we want to extend the terminus of caltrain to downtown. over 48,000 direct or indirect jobs will be created over the next seven years. transbay, there redevelopment plan with a plan that was adopted in 2005. that plan will transform an underutilized section of downtown san francisco, south of market street, into a thriving transit-oriented neighborhood. 2600 new homes, 35 percent of

which will be affordable. 3 million square feet of new office space and 10,000 square feet of retail. that is what that is going to be. and folsom street will be the centerpiece of this new neighborhood and will feature widened sidewalks, views of the bay, cafes, and markets. watch out for that. that will be an exciting place for the new part of downtown. in our south of market area, the trans bay terminal will sustain growth in our south of market area, a neighborhood that has grown with the tech companies that haul it home. there are more than 1500 companies in san francisco, as i said earlier, with the city's tech industry located right in that neighborhood. soma is also home to the convention center, which is a centerpiece of our city's tourism. dream force -- as the beginning of the month, september 1, we held the ninth annual dream force in san francisco. it brought over 40,000 visitors

to san francisco on just a four- day convention. $42.9 million of economic activity went on in our city as a result. it was such a large event that, yes, we gave them howard treat -- street. no problem with that. we will be doing the same thing with oracle as well. mosconi. for san francisco to keep posting conventions, it is critical that we expand the mosconi center's existing footprint. so through exceedingly careful planning, which includes the establishment of a tid, a revenue source for a planned expansion has been created. working with the city and private partners, sf travel is set to begin an ambitious expansion into mosconi east,

which will insure vitality of our tourism and convention sector. the tourism industry supports 67,000 jobs and generates over $8 billion a year in our economic activity to the city on an annual basis. ok, how about america's cup? tourism will also be supported by the 34th america's cup, which will bring in breathtaking and short and long term benefits for our city. an estimated $1.4 billion of economic impact will be to our city. but we are also doing it smartly. we are creating positive legacies that will include projects such as an expedited construction of the james r. herman cruise ship terminal. san francisco hosts 40 to 80 ships a year, each carrying up to 4000 passengers who disembarked and directly support our economy with their dollars.

the terminal which will also be used as a convention and events space when the ships are not in the port will prove to be an exceedingly important aspect to our local economy in the long run. the jobs are provided by the america's cup is only the beginning of a series of projects that will transform our city's waterfront. these include improvements in transit options, public access infrastructure along the waterfront viewing areas, and an acceleration of other streetscape and waterfront projects that will help show off the beauty of this special part of the city. one example that i am very interested in, and i know john and ed at dpw were focused on improving our jefferson street realm. that will be focused on improving this. treasure island. of those spots, treasure island

is the city's largest undertaking. as you know, it is located in our day, a former naval station the ceased operations in 1997. 10 years of planning. the groundbreaking will occur early next year, setting the stage for the first residents to appear -- additional residents -- in 2015. at completion, almost 500,000 square feet of retail and adaptive reuse of historic structures will happen. it will accommodate 8000 homes and 3,000 acres of park and open space. the project will be built over four phases during about 15 or 20 years construction supporting 10,000 construction jobs and the resulting neighborhood will support 3000 permanent positions, a majority of which will be targeted for san francisco residents. park merced is another innovative project that looks to

preserve middle-income housing stock while creating economic generation for the city's western neighborhoods. when complete, 1500 red- controlled apartments will be rebuilt. that is an unprecedented protection to ensure the rights of existing tenants. in addition to those 1500 newly rebuilt, 5500 new homes and 300,000 square feet of commercial space will be added to park merced completely through private investment. new development on the west side is a catalyst investment. parker said -- parker said leveraged which may lead to significant capital transportation investment, including separating the ocean view from 19th avenue and extending the muni metro to davis city bart.

we think that is going happen. the san francisco southeast waterfront began its transformation this year as the first phase of the hunters point shipyard can as the project got under way. at full buildup, the neighborhood will include 10,500 homes. 1/3 of the house and will be below market rate, including the rebuild alice griffith public housing development. new companies that are coming into the hunters point and bayview area -- as you know, we opened fresh and easy just last month on august 24. i opened that stored to the light of so many residents to see their first full grocery store service. this is their second store in san francisco. the first one opened up on june 20. in addition to fresh and easy, san francisco's wholesale market

produce is located in the bayview, and that produce market currently houses 30 companies in the 300,000 square foot wholesale market place. a produce market is a source of good jobs that pay well, and they do not require four-year degrees. the market's 200,000 square feet expansion will generate an additional 350 permanent jobs and $500 million in economic impact, keeping and creating good jobs in san francisco. another economic anchor for the community will be a 3 million square foot innovation district of green office space, clean technology, research and development uses. the district is anticipated to create 10,000 permanent jobs, " that will benefit the bayview hunters point community as well as the city and the region. as mentioned earlier, mission bay. the hunters point innovation is

to build upon the success of the city's first innovation cluster, mission bay, which was designed from the ground up to be one of the best places on the planet for companies on the cutting edge of new technology. thanks to the leadership, of course, of near brown and mayor newsom, we have a good plan to place this campus, a major research hospital and private- sector companies are around it, and it has worked. today, we have more than 35 life science companies in mission bay, including pfizer, the pfizer center for therapeutic innovation, there -- bayer health care, but it is not just limited to biotech. salesforce purchased in mission bay, one of the last parcels in the cloud computing. the competing firms that will propose to build some 2 million square feet of their headquarters in campus right there employing 8000 employees.

now, on to even more exciting news. in addition to winning baseball games, the giants are working with the port on the lot that sits across from coleco from the giants stadium. currently a parking lot. but the site will be transformed into a mixed use neighborhood that includes a pedestrian, not -- pedestrian promenade. hundred 75 rental homes, exhibit space, new retail and up to 1.7 million square feet of office and by a tax base. this side said slightly south of the mission bay appeared filled with historic buildings that tell of san francisco was a industry, maritime pact, including bethlehem steel and the union iron works machine shop. the port will restore 700,000

square feet of historic resources while incorporating 3 million square feet of new office development for tech companies and art organizations. our california pacific medical center. clearly another important project is cpmc. in the next year, i will undertake a $2.5 billion project. project will combine the existing california and pacific campuses into new, seismically safe hospital on our hill. cpmc will also of hold its commitment to rebuild and operate st. luke's. we are, with the partnership, closely working in other to ensure that this project will provide all the necessary services to all the residents of san francisco, especially the poor and underserved. i expect this project will get

built. stock options. for a city working so hard to support innovators and create jobs, there is one area we have to do better on, and that is our business tax system. it is broken when you have policies that punish job creation. that is what our payroll tax has done. that is what some of the old ordnances we have on the books have done as well. we took the first step in june to address this problem when i signed legislation that reduces the payroll tax legislation on pre-ipo companies. but i am not done yet. i am committed to payroll tax reform. moving away from the payroll tax and working with all of you in our business community as to what should appropriately replace it. we make no illusion about this. this is not going to be easy, but i will need your help and everybody in this room's help from the entire business