of district 11. welcome. >> how are you all doing? it is great to be here. it is a great turnout for a great day, i was doing work in the city. the only way we can warm up is to go out and do the work. i want to say happy arbor day. this city is in the middle of great change. we have friends of the urban forest, a lot around san francisco that are helping to make sure we have a well- maintained urban forest. we planted hundreds of trees. i think we could use a few more trees in this part. if you have an urge to have more greening in your neighborhood, we can help make

that happen. we can have tree plantings on this side of district 11. we see trees, we drive more slowly, we recognize the environment more. all these great things. he haunt arbor day, we represent that. i want to thank the organizations that are putting on this event, thank dpw for their work. laborers are here. thank you for your work. above and beyond the call of duty. the university. alpha gamma sigma, alpha phi omega, charity cultural services center, community youth center. thank you for being here.

the department of the environment. the garden project earth stores. the juvenile probation department. united players. i knew i would hear united players. individual volunteers. in business services division. all right. we were here a couple years ago, my first year as supervisor. actually, in 2009, the community claim team since that time, this whole area has been much better improved. i know you were here last time, thank you for your continued work. the department of corrections,

project 20. all right. i got coffee from starbucks. we have members of the neighbors in action, thank you for being here today. >> another big hand for john. city agencies that have been a partner with us and very supportive from the very beginning, a recreation and parks department. let's hear from joe ginsberg. -- phil ginsberg. >> it is a pleasure to be here to celebrate our trees and celebrate our community partnership. the recreation and park department has 131,000 trees.

131,000. thanks to voters in 2008. we have $5 million from the park fund that we are using to care for and maintain our trees. he will do it in the 2012 park fund in november. i do what should celebrate the incredible partnership with everyone here today. we like to say that we can't do it alone. at the arbor day, everybody. >> the department that helps us every arbor day to bring community groups out here and make sure that we have the right people educating many of our citizens about the environment and the director. >> let's hear it for the sun that is about to peek through

the clouds. i am thrilled to be here today to celebrate arbor day and celebrate our magnificent urban forest with mayor lee, supervisor avalos, dpw and rec & park. it is no surprise that trees are essential to creating truly sustainable communities. there are a whole host of benefits that come from having a robust urban forest. everything from air quality, climate change, they are pretty to look at. the department of the environment is committed to working with our partners to help improve the size and health of our urban forest. we are providing staff support to the urban forestry council that helped put together a guide for san franciscans and that one

to prune their trees. this is the tree pruning guide available at the department of environment move. it is very helpful for folks that are taking care of their own trees. i also want to mention the department of the environment also created a local carbon funds. the increase carbon emissions and investor back in local projects that help offset the carbon emissions. in district 11, we are doing a tree-planting activity. i wanted to thank all of you. i wanted to thank to of my staff of about an incredible job year after year. sunshine, who is fantastic, and our urban coordinator. i wanted to thank both of them for their great work at helping to make our birthday successful.

my 4-year-old son is here with his own shovel. we need to speak for the trees and that is what we are doing today. let's go plant a tree, happy arbor day. >> when i started working at the department of public works, i used to drive down brotherhood away at this was a big forest. you couldn't even see what was underneath it. they live right across the street. they would come out here and actually were. through the hard work and community, the neighborhood, we are able to get it the way it looks. a very important person that has contributed to make sure that we're always out there working

and keeps us busy, i will have them come up and say a few words. >> happy arbor day, everyone. i know what this neighborhood has looked like and how it has transformed over the last 12 years. i want to say thank-you to each and every one of you. 12 years ago, there were things going on in that area. do the hard work of the mayor that has been the director of the p.w. and all of the dpw crews, the neighborhood associations, thank you. let's do some more beautification. >> the last speaker is someone that has been very inspirational to me when i first came to san francisco.

i used to work with the league of urban gardeners. we were located at hunters point. this person really inspired me and really, i believe, got me to where i am at today. being in contact with this person, they will not have any work and really taught them how to garden and give back to nature. that taught them from planting a seed and watching a plant grow can actually change your life. this person has also worked very closely. without further debate -- delay, i will introduce catherine from the garden project. >> thank you everybody for being here. when i first met muhammed, our

program planted many of these trees. many of the shrubs on this whole street. and many of the people that planted those trees are not with us. every tree, every plant needs a person to care for it. by us caring for plants, we care for ourselves. we have a way to care for those who can learn how to work and take care of those families. that is what she was about, we inspired -- thank you to everyone. >> another big hand for catherine. are we ready to go to work? we will be planting this tree? ♪

>> you probably think you know all about the exploratorium.

but have you ever been after dark? did you know there was a monthly party called after dark? science mixes with culture and adults mix with other adults. no kids allowed. every week there is a different theme. to tell us about the themes is melissa alexander. tell us about some of the previous themes we have had. >> we have had sex ploration, sugar, red, blue. many things. >> what is the theme tonight? >> rock, paper, scissors. we are having a tournament tonight, but we have also used as a jumping off point to explore lots of different ideas. you can find out about rock,

paper, scissors as a game as a reproductive strategy. you can interact with a piece of art created by lucky dragon. you can get your hair cut from a cool place called the public barber's salon. they use scissors only. you can find out about local geology, too. >> that sounds like fun. let's check it out. >> this is the most common rock on the surface of the earth. interesting thing is, most of this rock is covered over by the ocean. >> error congested a cool presentation on plate tectonics. tell us about what we just saw. >> we wrapped up a section of a lesson on a plate tectonics, here at the exploratory and -- exploritorium. >> are you excited to see people

here having fun and learning about science? >> the people that come here are some selected to begin with, they actually enjoy science. i teach teachers to have fun with their kids. the general public is a great audience, too. they're interested in science. >> we have a blast every time. they have different names. >> they have a bar and a cafe. everything i need. we are excited for the speaker. >> it is nice to be in the exploratorium when there are not a lot of kids around. >> before tonight, i never knew there were major league rules to rock, paper, scissors. i am getting ready to enter into a competition. sarah's here to give me some tips. what do i need to do to win it? >> this is a game of chance, to a degree. one of the best ways to bring it

home is a degree of intimidation, maybe some eye contact, maybe some muscle. it is a no contact sport. sheer i contact is a good way to maybe intimidate to see if you can set them off, see if they throw something they did not mean to. >> i am going to see what happens. >> i got kicked out in the first round. [applause] >> given up for sunni. the rock, paper, scissors champion. >> what are you going to do now? >> i have been having so much fun. i got my tattoo. before we go, i want to thank melissa alexander for having us here tonight. how did you know san francisco needed a night like tonight? >> thank you for coming.

everybody loves the exploratorium. we are reluctant to push the kids out of the way in the day, so i knew we needed to create one evening a month just for the rest of us to have a good time, the adults. >> absolutely. where can we find out what is coming up after dark? >> that is easy, exploratorium .edu/afterdark. >> thank you. thanks for watching >> good morning, everybody.

welcome to our america's cup center here at pier 80. i wanted to make some further announcements in light of the discussion that has been happening in our city on our america's cup event happening, starting this year, and will definitely have been in 2013 as well. i am here with stephen berkley, the head of the event authority. thank you to you and to jim and mike and our team for working intensely for months on the last few weeks, putting together the development agreement that is part of the investments on the america's cup, which oracle and others have been working on. the last couple of weeks, i have been a key participant with

members of the board of supervisors but also engaged between our staff and the abet a party and corp. team staff, to try to get to all of the complex agreements that have to do with the investments. i will say, in light of those discussions, some of which have been written about extensively from all of you, i started to get the feeling that people were for getting help on this race is going to be for our city and started talking about not only the complexities of planning, permits, investments, returns on investments, i even have people start mentioning lawsuits that have started to creep up. i wanted to get back to the focus. the focus has always been that we would work with our event authority, with the oracle racing team, to present one of

the best, most interesting, and dynamic international races this country has seen, and to get back that excitement and not get so bogged down in all of these conversations that we have been having, particularly in the last couple of weeks. we have been working intensely to make sure the event and the purpose of the event continues to go forward. we are announcing today, in light of the complexity that presented themselves, drawn-out discussions over that, we have worked out some agreements, some changes that will make it less complex and therefore get back to the origins of it. the race is still confirmed here, but we also want to let you know, we have agreed, piers

30 and 32 will no longer be in the immediate discussions for development. we will consolidate all of the teams here at pier 80 for this event beginning this year and through next year. i think that will help with the conversation. certainly with the level of investments that have been anticipated to repair 30 and 32. we will not be needing those, and we figured that out over good conversation that we had this weekend. that will bring us back to the origins. i want to emphasize, in this decision not to have 30/30 to be a part of this at this time -- and i emphasize, at this time -- consolidation will take place with all the teams but we will still have -- and i am

promised, tomorrow, some of the walls around the shed will be coming down as part of the investment in building the james herman cruise ship terminal at pier 27. that will continue forthright in that timeframe. i want to get back to the time bring the new want to have for this year and next here on the races that will happen. we are committed to those time frames. we did not want any further disruptions from that. we will be working with our report, members of the board of supervisors who have been notified about this recent change, and give ourselves some adequate time to adjust to those changes and focus on the things that have to be done to get this race ready. mr. ellison and i were in conversations about an hour ago. he is as enthusiastic about

getting the race started. he expects to win, i expect him to win the race. we will look at other parts of our report to see how we can do future investment and entice private investors to come in and make sure we can repair some very valuable parts of our pier. i want to again say thank you to the members of our event authority. i know lucy is here. carey is here helping us raise private dollars. again, thank you to steven barkley and you're wonderful team for working with us. this wonderful event, with the books that we are starting with, we will start and continue on that time frame and as you have seen here, even though i cannot let you into the secretive rooms that our housing the larger boats, their

technology, we will continue on those posts. we will continue to announce that. the time frame that we meet. that is the immediate news. i want to reconfirm, we expect to have these races continue. we expect to draw an hour large people around the bay area to see this race. it continues to be a race that will blend of technology of how you view the race, how the votes are outfitted with information and technology coming from the race itself and welcoming in the new generation that will be able to see this for the first time from the shore, waterfront, in new ways that have yet to be announced. not getting ahead of ourselves. it will also involve a new generation of people that will

appreciate the fast sailing sport, the youth that we think will be excited about this race and future races to come. this is where we wanted to be. this is where we want to confirm the excitement that this gives to our city, a city that is not only dependent but thrives on tourism and events of international stature, as the america's cup is all about. i look forward to getting on one of those ac-45's. i think you have convinced me. i need to feel the speed on that. that will happen shortly. i will make sure i have my insurance in place before i do that. otherwise, i wanted to give mr. barkley a chance to comment on the change and to reconfirm the things we are doing to make race successful. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee.

the thing that i would like to get across from the amendatory point of view it is, the timeframe we are working to was always aggressive. we had a year-long construction project on pier 30/32. we compressed that into nine months. when we looked at where we were at, where the city was at, ourselves, we collectively came to a decision that maybe this was the best way. for those that no the intricate details in the planning for the america's cup, you know that pier i-80 was always the contingency plan for teams to base themselves here in 2013, just as they will do so here in 2012. with this behind us, we can focus on having a fantastic sailing event in the san francisco bay, first time it has been done before, and we are really looking forward to it. [applause]

[applause] >> we are going to take a few questions and then break. the mayor will be available in smaller groups. a couple of questions? >> are you scaling down your expectations on economic benefits? >> no, i expect the race will continue to draw what we were expecting. 5000 people on a daily basis coming in. the races are still planned the way they are. we expect the bay area to receive a billion dollars worth of economic impact from the races. we are building on that. still, the complexity of the transportation plan, the housing of people here, even to this

weekend -- i was working on the taxi hackathon, making sure that they are servicing all the different visitors we expect for the event. we are fully expecting the economics to be as great at it had been. >> could you follow up on those potential construction jobs at pier 30/32 that will be lost? >> i do not have all the details there. obviously, the immediate development of 30/32, there will not be those jobs there because we will not be developing. does that mean it is forever lost? i do not think so. those piers are very attractive to future development. we will have the discussions in the future. they are planning for this. it is not forever removed, but for this race, at this time, i believe it helps with going

forward with consolidating everybody here and making sure the race is the primary focus and timeframe that we want to have to have a successful race. >> [inaudible] >> and the scope of the project at 30/32 was to repair -- refurbish those piers. i think the estimate was $30 million. what we have done here, a couple million dollars already spent here. there are 80 people working here. at last count, 24 local hire people from this neighborhood that are here with one team. i personally see this being replicated along the pier. we will also need to look at --

i do not think this will fit for all the teams -- but we may need to look at putting some teams on the end of pier 27, 29. that was always the plan. from the authority point of view, we see little changed other than moving the teams from 30/32 down to here. the biggest chain would be if someone wanted to walk from the village to pit row, they will now need to get on muni or something. >> [inaudible] international part us alart fesg on at the same time as the america's cup. have you made any inroads with that? >> i do not think we have ever rejected any idea. i think we