other jobs. military or something. kind of weird. it's a small word, you be. like i said, what do people do when they come to san francisco? they ride a cable car. >> california line starts in the financial district. people are coming down knobbhill. the cable car picks people up. takes them to work. >> there still is no other device to conquer these hills better than a cable car. nobody wanted to live up here because you had to climb up here. with the invention of the cable car, these hills became

accessible. he watched horses be dragged to death. cable cars were invent in san francisco to solve the problem with it's unique, vertically challenged terrain. we are still using cars a century old >> the old cable car is the most unique thing, it's still going. it was a good design by then and is still now. if we don't do something now. it's going to be worse later. >> the cable cars are built the same as they were in the late 1800's. we use a modern machinery. we haven't changed a thing. it's just how we get there. >> it's a time consuming job. we go for the quality rather

than the production. we take pride in our work and it shows in the end product. >> the california line is mostly locals. the commuters in the morning, i see a lot of the same people. we don't have as tourists. we are coming up to street to chinatown. since 1957, we are the only city in the world that runs cable cars.

these cars right here are part of national parks system. in the early 1960's, they became the first roles monument. the way city spread changed with the invention of the cable car. >> people know in san francisco, first thing they think about is, let's go >> good afternoon, and welcome.

this has to be the coldest and windiest. i want to thank san francisco for your hospitality. i often feel i have one of the best jobs. every spring we get to work with communities putting in green spaces, and this is what this is all about, helping communities benefit from green spaces in urban areas. we could not have done this without partners. gerwe have the park conservator,

and we have volunteers from lows and fresh and easy today. you really are the reason we are in the rain and cold during this great work, so we were talking about partners co., and we stard talking and realized we have added them as a partner, so i would like to introduce jocelyn to say a few words about our program. >> good afternoon. it is living up to its reputation of rain.

we are thrilled with our partnership says. many are committed, and we join with our partners for our gardens and green space program, and we are recognizing the moral leadership and the development of green spaces across the nation. we are honored to present the award for outstanding leadership in this area. >> thank you. first, i think they huge grant we are getting today is of a recognition everyone has participated in. i want to thank the neighbors and volunteers a. it has been in the works for so

many years because of the love in the community, and i know that for a fact because i was here years ago, and we said to ourselves and we need to not looking at this community in a negative way, to see what is positive, and not only is this garden appreciated by our community, but it is recognized by the u.s. conference of mayors and by scots miracle grow, because we are one of five cities being recognized with this award. is very special. they really wanted to express support for people taking

seriously the movement around healthy environments. gooyou are going to find there a little kid living the dream by helping to grow edible things, someone we are going to recognize as a special person as well, and as someone who has been in city government for 23 years but started dpw days right here aunt knew how hard it was for people to generate a positive feeling, but they did it using a garden, so people could say, what is wrong having a garden that represents us, and

having the youth center establish alongside the neighborhood, so there are so many stories to tell about how the community has come together, and now i think we are in historic times where there is a sense of community that has not been felt for many years. i knew there was fear that drove a lot of decisions, and these gardens, there is a special thing we are getting. we are using opportunities everywhere weekend. richard -- everywhere we can.

you see that it is now being recognized as a national model for everyone to follow, so i want to say thank you, community. thank you to our young people for sticking with us, for example of buying your -- for exemplifying your faith we have a community way to green ourselves into success. i get to drive. this is my first year as a member of the conference of mayors. i get to say we have not finished the first year, and we have a national award because

our communities are strong. thank you so much. >> this is the kickoff year as well. i would like to introduce a gentle man who had a huge part in putting the garden on the map. jeffrey, where are you? [applause] >> can i do this? thank you. this is quite today. this does not happen every day, and i love it. if the spirit moves, feel free to move out. did there are so many people to thank. know you would not be here if you were not part of the solution, but there is one

person i would like to acknowledge, and that is annette smith, who needs no introduction. of one of the founding gardeners 10 years ago, who started planting on the median strip and doing the outrageous thing of shaking hands and hugging people they did not know. >> hi, everybody. thank you all for coming out. it gives me great pleasure to stand before you and say welcome to our neighborhood. it has been a lot of work, but it has been a lot of fun. it has been helpful to me mobility-wirese, so the

neighborhood is a much better neighborhood. people come out to talk to one another, where they did not in the beginning, and i am not going to say anything else but thank you. >> you can see why we love her. thank you, stocks miracle gro, and who am i forgetting? franklin county, my hometown local gardens curator -- my botanical gardens. this is an amazing example of what it takes to turn a community are round. it takes leadership from the public sector.

we have two community challenge grants and the department of environmental justice grant, and that has kept us afloat. we would not be here if it was not for that. mendoza from the mayor's office is here. she would tell you she is first and foremost the mayor. she is on the school board. good we are blessed. it takes a lot of bridges with the community sector and the corporate sector to do things like this, and we feel like we have derived region we have arrived. and we are moving into the future because of you guys. thank you so much. good >> we would like to present a sharcheck.

>> it does not look like it will fit in the atm. >> no. >> thank you. >> we have john murray who is here. we also have lynn here.

we also have nicole riviera from leader pelosi's office, who is going to read a proclamation. >> are usually say the leader is in d.c. working, but she is in ireland, but she did want to send a letter. congratulations to the gardens initiative as you celebrate your wheen award. so many of you represent the health and are underserved neighborhoods. it has created a beautiful haven in neighborhoods that will only continue to flourish. they demonstrated community

partnerships can create extraordinary work zeroth. all of this demonstrates the power this garden will have on the community. this would not be possible without the volunteers who have made it a reality. congratulations and best regards, nancy pelosi. >> i feel like and billy crystal at the oscars. good eveninthe next person i woo introduce is stephen. steven is going to talk about our grow 1000 program. goo>> i get the best part of the

presentation, which we will get to in a little bit, but frankly i prepared some comments. this is our inaugural kicked off a. rather than try to explain, i thought a show of hands might be more oopprobrium. anyone living here, raise your hand. the work and you started fostering the community through gardening efforts, things you have already started, that is what it is for us, providing more support, providing more opportunities for the

relationships to strengthen and continue to develop. for us the means finding more opportunities like this, hopefully to participate in 1000 of these throughout the u.s., canada, and europe, so this is one of five major ones we have chosen this year, so thank you for the opportunity. i have not gotten to shake everybody's hand, but mary, tom, jeff, i have gotten to shake a lot of hands today, and linda has an almost 1-year-old. that has an older brother in kindergarten, but it is not only about community biaseut about hg a nice place to go and a community spirit of the third-

generation davey resident, just thought a house here. that is what is about, providing opportunities for kids to grow, so that is what it is about, and it is not about us doing the work, and we just want to provide the help to do that. thank you for the work you have already started. now for my favorite part of the presentation superior -- presentation. we are giving a give back to grow award. the students had to write an essay and tell why they like gardening, so i have the honor of introducing serenity williams. i have been told serenity has a

green thumb herself. she loves to water the plants, so she is going to read a little from her essay. strikes and my neighborhood garden, we are planting food for everybody in our community. the garden is colorful and has healthy snacks. the healthy snacks include fruits and vegetables like strawberry and squash for people who do not have much to get healthy food. goothis is shaped like a rectangle, and is outside of my

home. inside our garden, there are stones to walk on and different levels. the role i play in the garden project is planting seeds and watering everything in our garden to keep plants healthy. i spent an hour and a half an hour community garden every week. the good thing our garden has done, it has grown healthy food and we have eaten the reagan region we have eaten. environmental education is important because natural food is really good for the body

instead of candy. it helps care for the environment because people can walk through our garden instead of using gas to go to the grocery store and spend money. [applause] >> great job! one second. louie, i think we may have a future employee. when she came here, serenities said she was very nervous. she read them pretty well.

they have a couple of words and gibsofts. >> thank you for making such a great effort inspiring people around you. you will have some tools so you can get started this season, so congratulations. >> you did that so well, i need

someone to do the next question answer. you want to do that for me? all right. >> congratulations, serenity. [applause] >> i know everyone is freezing, but i would also like to say thank you to the members who have been out here weeding, carrying heavy stuff. i would also like to thank my other colleagues. i think that is the end of our program. we have a sign we would like to

officially unveil. >> 1, 2, 3, there we go. very nice. beautiful.

>> when stephen de staebler died, he was working on one of the biggest shows of his career, matter and spirit. it is a retrospective look at the many faces and faces of the life of an innovative artist from the california clay movement. stephen de staebler's developed in an area dominated by abstract expression. even his peers saw his form. >> he was able to find a middle ground in which he balanced the ideas of human figuration and

representation with abstraction and found it even more meaningful to negotiate that duality. >> another challenge was to create art from a meeting that was typically viewed as kraft material. his transforming moment was an accident in the studio. an oversized vertical sculpture began to collapse under its own weight and spread onto the floor. he sought a new tradition before him, landscape sculpture. >> you feel this extended human form underneath the surface of the earth struggling to emerge. eventually, it does. it articulates his idea that the earth is like flesh, and the archaeology and geology in the earth are like the bones, the structure of the earth. this tied in with his idea of mother earth, with the sense that we are all tied to nature and the earth.

>> a half dozen bay area museums and private collectors loan the massive sculptures to the museum for its matter and spirit retrospective. but the most unusual contributions came from stephen himself. a wall of autobiographical masks and hence from the early decades of his private study. >> he had one of the most beautiful studios i have ever been in. when you walk in, your first impression is of these monumental figures that you see in the exhibition, but if you went into the back corner of his studio, there was a series of shells with these diminutive figures. he told me, these are the heart of my studio. these little, and held intimate study is that he referred to as his sketchbook. a painter might make drawings. stephen de staebler made miniature sculptures. miniature sculptures. >> during the 1970's, he was