helped us on that. we figured out how to do it long before anybody was really measuring carbon. the second member i mentioned -- i gave a speech last year. it was 391. i went on a website last night and it was 393. that is parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. when we were all born, that number was in the low 300's. that number has been fluctuating between 100 and 300. before long, we will be passing 400 million. it is a sobering thought about what that means for our planet, but i am proud knowing that i did what i could to cut those emissions of carbon. i felt like we took action appropriately in response to the

urgency of the problem. i want to thank everyone here today, the taxicab industry, everyone who supported this policy, all the way to making it a success. thank you very much. [applause] >> our next speaker arguably has one of the toughest jobs in san francisco, overseeing muni and the parking and traffic department. but will come and reiskin, director of the sfmta. -- let's welcome ed reiskin, director of the sfmta. >> we are charged with implementing the city's transit first policy. in order for transit first to work in san francisco, we need excellent taxi service. as much as we would like to see you hot on muni, your bike, or what we need to go, sometimes

you need a car. from a transportation perspective, the most efficient way for us to meet that need, one of them is through taxicabs. i think presidents chiu's experience this morning manifest that. with better service, his girlfriend can get rid of her car. to the extent we can meet that need in san francisco with cleaner vehicles, then we are achieving environmental goals as well. paul's reminder to us, with those sobering statistics, it is really important. it is not just his use of oxidation reduction reaction, which is a phrase that you do not often hear in a press conference. those numbers are why a lot of us are doing the work we are doing. this is extremely important, not just to san francisco, but to our planet.

i want to thank paul and our former mayor, lt. gov. gavin newsom, for your leadership, courage, and a word i have heard before, the audacity to put forward a program like this. i want to thank our current mayor, board president, city industry partners for demonstrating with strong leadership and collaboration among the public and private sectors, we can achieve goals in transportation, the environment, and this is an important message for us to send to the state and washington, d.c., that we can do so in ways that are good for the economy. transportation, environmental, and economic goals are not anti pedicle. they can support each other. that is important for us to know. -- are not antithetical. it is a day that we should all

be proud of what we are achieving. thank you very much. [applause] >> supervisor, does your girlfriend know that we are getting rid of her car soon? in san francisco, like other cities, they have a department of the environment. they do not have this in every city. san francisco is a forward- thinking city. with that, i want to bring up the director of the department, melanie nutter. >> good morning. i am so pleased to be here today to celebrate this environmental milestone. as you have heard, we would not be here today without the broad coalition of support and the ongoing collaboration that came together around ensuring we could reduce carbon emissions

from our taxi fleet coming here in san francisco. the san francisco department of the environment is proud to have been a partner in insuring san francisco's taxi fleet is the greenest in the nation. first, on the policy front, in 2007, 2008, our department staff work with the taxi commission and cab companies to create the green tax ordinance. this collaboration resulted in a performance standard, requiring taxi companies achieve over all the emission reductions each year without mandating specific models. as long as each company's fleet met the required performance standard at an average level of greenhouse gas reductions every year, they could choose the mix of vehicles that best suits them. secondarily, regarding education, we created the grain taxi guide to help all tax to companies in the city to identify cars that they could

buy that would meet the required averages. finally, we also used incentives. we were able to work with the air district as well as county transportation authority to seek secured grants to incentivize the purchase of hybrid vehicles by taxi companies in order to achieve the level of emission reductions that would meet the overall goal. as the lieutenant governor said, cities are the laboratory and innovation. this shows how other cities could bring their taxi fleets as well as to use this to reduce carbon emissions. i first want to thank staff, particularly bob hagen, who has put in many hours of hard work to see this happen. i also wanted to congratulate paul gillespie and all the partners here today who helped to make this possible.

we look forward to future collaboration that will have to maintain san francisco's label as the greatest city in america. [applause] >> the bay area air quality management district is in charge of making sure that we follow these regulations. >> as the executive director for the bay area air quality management district, it is my pleasure to recognize the city of san francisco, mayor lee, lt. gov. newsom for their leadership, and demonstrating the fact that green has gas reductions can occur, they can occur in the economic climate we find ourselves in, and i want to thank and recognize them for their leadership, for creating the cleanest taxi fleet in the

world. that is a phenomenal achievement. we have been proud of our partnership with the city. we provided half a million dollars to help purchase some of the taxis here today. we think this is just step one of a long process moving forward. again, i want to congratulate and thank leadership. i appreciate the opportunity to be here this morning. thank you. [applause] >> now, i would like to bring up mayor lee and lt. gov. knew some, and paul gillespie. there will be a presentation. after that, we will go outside and do some things with the taxi cabs. >> who would have thought we would be saying thank-you four years ago?

with that said, on behalf of all the tax to companies in san francisco, we want to thank lt. gov. gavin newsom and mayor lee for their generous support of the taxi industry, and your vision to not only make san francisco the best city in america, but the greenest. with that, lieutenant governor gavin newsom, thank you for your vision. we would like to present you with this plaque. [applause] mayor lee, we would also like to thank you for your vision. we look for too many years working together. we would also like to present you with this plaque. [applause] >> we have new decals that will be on some of these taxi cabs.

i am a hunter who has them. here they are. -- i am not sure who has them. the lieutenant governor, mayor, are going to come down and help us put these on some of the calves outside. -- cabs outside. >> right here? there you go. very good.

>> this is one of the museum's

longest art interest groups. it was founded by art lovers who wanted the museum to reflect new directions in contemporary art. it has been focused on artists in this region with an eye toward emerging artists. ♪ it is often at the early stage of their career, often the first major presentation of their work in a museum. it is very competitive. only a few artists per year receive the award. it is to showcase their work to have a gallery and publication dedicated to their work. ♪ i have been working with them on

the last two years on the award and the exhibitions. the book looks at the full scope of the awards they have sponsored. ♪ it has been important to understand the different shifts within the award program and how that is nearing what else is going on in the bay area. -- how that is mirror beiing wht else is going on in the bay area. ♪ there are artists from different generations sometimes approaching the same theme or subject matter in different ways. they're artists looking at the history of landscape and later artists that are unsettling the history and looking at the history of conquests of nature. ♪

artists speak of what it means to have their work scene. often you are in the studio and do not have a sense of who is really seeing your work. seeing your own work at the institution have gone to for many years and has an international audience is getting the word out to a much larger community. ♪

>> and on behalf of the society, its board of directors, and want to welcome you to the celebration of the 2012 black history month kickoff program here at city hall.