money within oakland's ability to spend that would guarantee these teams remain here? or do you have to be open to the possibility one or more of them could leave? >> our goal is to keep all three of them. that is one thing i do not want to share with ed, is my sports teams. we will clearly be dealing, i think, with some announcements of around coliseum city. i think we have to wait to see how redevelopment shakes out, to look at some of the other options. i am feeling generally optimistic. the family joke is if i was not so optimistic i would not be mayor. i am optimistic about the teams. we are in discussions with most of the team's i am particularly

excited by the coliseum said the concept. we already own the land there. a lot of studies show a lot of interest and ability to privately finance a lot of that project. it is something that i think i certainly am spending a significant amount of time on, with all of the major news. the thing about being a mayor is you have to be hands on on these kinds of projects, because these are so critical to stimulate the economy in each of those regions of the city. >> is there a team in one of those stadiums that is more important economically than another? >> which of your children do you like? >> that is like choosing among your children. the reason i am holding out to see if i can find a private investment is because baseball brings about 2 million visits to downtown oakland.

at jack london square, the would be a huge boost for a hotel industry that is coming back. it is so close to the city, the vibrant restaurant industry we already have, lead by free shuttles from outside your door. we would like a lake in, jack and square, and uptown in a constant -- that would link the lake, jacklyn squre, and updown in a constant loop. with the convention center and the airport -- it would have the airport connector at the end, less than 10 minutes away. it would be a huge boost the economy. nobody builds a team alone. you use the stadium for a multiplier effect, and how it affects our economy, whether it

is downtown or the coliseum. >> san francisco is doing their part on the warriors, trying to lure them across the bridge to a new arena by at&t park. what is the status of that project, and who would pay for it? i am talking about financially. >> let me put this in perspective. if there is anything i have learned, it is that sports teams are also businesses. they want to be successful as well. there is changes. if you are an observer of the sports business, there have been changes in the business models. the giants have been extremely successful owning their own stadium in san francisco. it is one that i think some francisco has learned a little bit early. owning your own stadium means a lot of infrastructure investment that sometimes we do not have in bad years.

the model about the sports franchises who might consider owning their own stadiums is challenging. it is one i personally support, because it is their private investment that has to be laid out there. for any arena that we build, i think the reason why there is a discussion that was going on between the warriors and the giants, it is because of that very successful model. there are things i cannot say, because i am not privy to all the details. but i am hoping sports teams look at san francisco being a great venue not just for their sport, but if they do decide to invest in their own venue, the venue has to be successful well beyond those numbers of games that might be had there. we are talking about an entertainment arena. the same challenge for the coliseum -- i used to live in

oakland and wanted success all around. you have to have an environment for other things to happen, to have other events that are successful, to make money for all the different investors. you have to have an entryway and transportation infrastructure that supports that. that is what we have in mission bay. the details to follow. i think we are more than just the warriors. i think there are other sports ideas coming forth. with my discussions with the niners, we have ongoing discussions about the legacy of san francisco. they obviously want the name san francisco forty-niners. that means there has to be a constant link with us. what does that economically mean? we are in those discussions as we speak. >> we have time for one more discussion. you were recognized, acquired rightly, as pioneers coming into

office, as chinese american mayors in our regions of two biggest cities. what has that meant to your city? what benefits has a broad backs either of you can take the first crack at that. >> obviously, being the first chinese asian american mayor in san francisco is significant. as mayor quan knows, we have generations of his stories were we had the local laws that literally prevented our population from voting. it is significant for so many fronts that i think are all well spoken of already. having said that, i have been working in government for 22 years. i have seen what it takes for a mayor to be successful. i have supported for may years. i have run five different departments. for me it is good to not only celebrate this historic vote,

but recognize how important it was with communities that have suffered for many years, but to take that and share it with all the other communities of san francisco. we could be a jeremy lin. to be able to lead an open opportunities for african- americans and gays and lesbians to work with labor as strong as other mayors have and to make sure there are linked with the big decisions, to unite the city in the wake -- in a way, as you take the significance of this appointment at election, we could be leaders as well. a lot of asians use to shy away from politics, as you know. we used to -- generations before

us, our parents said to not go into politics. on your own business. be a financial person. the lawyer. you went to moscow. be a lawyer, make money. those were safe things. -- you went to law school. to make sure we can be -- as american as anybody else. shore leadership skills and values and share those values that are looked upon as strong. looking out for everybody. making sure that society is safe for everyone and looking at the whole family, as a whole for everybody. our values that i am lucky to share as the first asian american mayor of san francisco. >> we will give you the last word. >> sometimes people ask me, if being mayor as the first asian-

american or the first woman more difficult? i would say the asian american community has come into its own. we have a few glass ceilings to break. i am proud of that. that is where the chinese exclusion act and all the anti- chinese legislation started nationally and historically. my family and i helped found the society. we have a deep sense of history. to put it in more human terms, the other day, my staff and i were going somewhere and a group of young students stopped by, black and asian. typical downtown oakland and i stopped to take pictures. i said when i grew up i never saw anybody asian on tv who was not a waiter or had a thick

accent. i understand what the symbolism is for hope for young asian americans. in my city because we're so divorce, anybody can become mayor. just as president obama's election was so important for a generation of kids of all colors, breaking the barriers. probably what has been surprising, i did not know as much for ed. when i was elected, i got emails from shanghai and china. recently one of the members of the consulate staff said you are known by more chinese than by more americans. we're in such an intern global economy with the media and internet at the time as we mean personally internationally probably maybe a role we have

not totally on folded. i feel we need to market the california brand in a shut more effectively. we need to do that more collectively. that is an important market for the port of oakland. that is a huge part of our future economy. we play some personal role, oakland and san francisco are the usual stopping places for chinese investors and asian politicians. we play an important role in building that future global economy. that is something i will continue the focus on. not just selling open lines -- wines. representing the state and the economy with the port of oakland being the only port that exports more than we import, we need to build on to that. it helps the region. >> thank you.

thank you to both of you. best of luck in the coming year. [applause] >> let's have a huge round of applause for our great mares. thank you for great job of monitoring -- moderating. i want to thank our sponsors and your partner, city national bank, golden gate university, a kaiser permanente a-- kaiser permanente. we wish you great success individually and collectively. we hope you have great prosperity in 2012. we will see you next year in san francisco.

>> 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. ♪ >> want to thank you all for coming out on this beautiful san

francisco winter day. we are delighted to be here in chinatown. thank you to all of you who came out. there's going to be some noise during this event. this is a very busy street. that's one of the reasons we are doing this project. we are here today -- i am transportation director with the sfmta. thank you, boss. we're geared today to mark yet another important milestone and the steady, continued progress that we are making for the future generations of san francisco in this critically important project criticallyphase 2 of the light rail, otherwise known as the central subway. it is a project that is very important for building capacity, to move san francisco in the future. it also has benefits for current generations of san franciscans. the benefit comes in the form of jobs.

you cannot mention the word jobs these days without thinking of our great mayor lee. out further ado, i want to ask mayor lee to come up and say a few words. mayor lee: thank you. thank you for your great leadership. we would be dryer if the subway was built. we would be right here. i'm looking forward to it for the work that is about to happen. right behind me, you see this. i cannot be prouder of our mta. they're moving on this with the funding, with the schedule. they have been working hard with the neighborhood. we have the president of the chinese society here today. she has artist and a sense of old and new and it is reflected behind me. a vision of what the station will look like, and also the sense of history that this

represents, only in transportation, but for this community. david represents the modern san francisco as the board president and also as a our supervisor in this district. of course, clearly, the chinese- american supervisor for this district 3. very thankful to him. working with the chairman and making sure this continues to happen. we have some challenges with central subway. we have straighten them out. we step forward and continue to get really good news from our partners in the federal government. today, again, we earn the highest ranks with this central subway and all of the different federal and state agencies. right up to president obama's

administration, to have set $150 million in his budget for this station, the central subway. that adds to the green light we have gotten through the notice to proceed with the tunnel contract that is essential to this. today, the unveiling here. this will be geared towards the end of this year. you also need to know the little story behind this. how well our mta has been working with all the elements of the community. there's a little story here that i fit a lot of attention to, simply because my background is an attorney representing low- income tenants in chinatown. living above this building -- some eight small businesses that used to be in the front.

while they're physically gone here, what does not go unnoticed is the way in which there was a solid communication with those businesses, those business owners, the employees, those 19 households to get them to understand and agree that they had to temporarily relocate themselves. they have done that. they have done that without lawsuits, without protest, because we've taken care of their needs. i need to thank mta for this. we've had other projects in our city's history where the relationship with the impacted community was not as smooth. this is really to the credit of the whole mta family, working in concert with our community- based agencies, all these wonderful agencies that came together at a very early stage,

identified resources that had to happen to make sure that the quality of life was going to be treated as importantly for people who are going to be displaced temporarily. we are going to find permanent homes for all of 19 households. they are in temporary places right now. we have assured them and they trust us to find them permanent homes. we're going to do that. we've gotten temporary relocation for all the businesses. that is as important as announcing that we are forging ahead with a $235 million new subway station anin chinatown. then another station at union square and another at fourth. all part of a project that will be invaluable to connecting the whole city. i am here today to not only revealed the latest chapter, but to kind of congratulate

everybody for doing it really well to this point in utilizing our federal relationships. i need to thank president obama, a minority house leader nancy pelosi, senator boxer, all of our leaders who have been with us from the beginning. i'd like to say there's no stopping us now, but we have to get reviewed every step of the way. we are glad to do that. we've had the team together. we've done everything right. we are moving forward on it. the bid for the station is already on the street. there is a bidder's conference that will be held next week. the rest of the three stations that i just announced -- those bids go on throughout the year. i think every three months. every two months. we are on a very good pace to complete this. this is the moment i have been

waiting for. i think this is the strongest indication. it gets stronger every time we are out here to announce it. today, it's about thanking the community. they have never lost faith. i want to thank the board of trustees, the board of directors, the mta. thank you for your great leadership on this, as well. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mr. ma. yor. he has been a steadfast supporter of this from its inception. the board president who happens to represent this the district has also been a strong supporter of this project from the start. i want to remind folks that every single action that the board of supervisors has ever taken with respect to the central subway has been approved on an 11-0 vote. there's not a whole lot of things we could say sail through

with that type of track record. it speaks to the city wide importance of the central subway. it brings very specific benefits and very specific impacts to this neighborhood here. the board president and his role as district supervisor has been very focused on making sure that we do do the right thing, that we did the right thing in relocating tenants. i just want to acknowledge our real estate director, the city attorney's office, and our program manager. they all worked very hard to make that progress as smooth as possible in a way that meets the expectations that president chiu has set for us. without further ado, i want to invite our board president and district 3 supervisor, david

chiu. >> i want to welcome you all to a warm day in san francisco. first of all, the mayor has thanked many of you who have been part of this tremendous effort. i want to thank ed l foee for the work you have done. years ago, i served on the citizen advisory committee for the central subway. i remember having conversations with mayor lee when he was just a department head about the birth that we needed to do together. it is amazing and wonderful. i want to take a moment to say how excited i am because of my transit trip to get here. about 40 minutes ago, i rolled out on my bicycle and i put it away because of the rain. i then waited for a few minutes to try to catch a bus that did not come. i then waited for a few more minutes to catch a cab that did

not come. i ended up walking about 16 blocks over the hills to get here today. i realized that if the central subway was in place, we'd have a much more dry and quick ride. we know that when the central subway comes, rather than the 3 mile per hour trips that folks have to take down stockton street, we will be able to get here from all parts of the city much faster. we know that central subway will connect our communities all over the city, all over the bay area, not only bringing millions of tourists, but making sure our families will be able to be connected to folks who live here, not just in chinatown, but north beach, and fisherman's wharf. i know there have been a lot of thanks. i want to take a moment to thank the community partners that helped to make this happen. we spent a lot of time working

with the residential tenants and the small business tenants who are here. thank you to ccdc and your advocates for working with the mta staff and others in making sure the transition will be a smooth one. the reason we have this beautiful our work behind us is because of the work of the chinese historical society. thank you. i also want to thank the chinatown ymca. the young people helped to create the minerals. from left to right, it tells the journey from our past to our present and really to our future to a beautiful new structure that will be built. this structure is being billed with the generations of struggles and advocacy represented by all of us here and by the good work of the city, working with the private sector, working with our community. thank you for being here today. look forward to future announcements as we go to our milestones.

thank you very much. >> thank you, president chiu. >> the other parts behind this project is the mta board. the maker referenced -- the mayor referenced some of the work they have done. we have issued two notices to proceed. that is under way. next, the $235 million chinatown station the mta board has authorized us to advertise. that will be followed by another $600 million or so of construction projects, all of which will be awarded in this calendar year. this is a big year. this is a big year for the project. that's a big responsibility that we are asking of the mta board to authorize nearly $1 billion of construction work to make this happen. the leader in shepherding this

project along, both as a board member and as chairman of the board, mr. tom noland, who we are very happy to have here. mr. chairman. >> thank you. thank you very much. i have the opportunity to be in washington, d.c. earlier this week. everything the mayor has said is exactly right. to be able to represent the officials in the administration and in congress that this city has united the entire political leadership of san francisco -- totally behind us -- that means so much. they all understand that. on behalf of the board, i want to say how proud we are of the board of directors and the entire agency of mta. we've had a number of critics through the years to have said -- do it some other way. my question is, have you ever been to chinatown? what is another alternative? the alternatives were considered. this is clearly the best one. i look forward to the day of the dedication.