in the meantime, we pledge to continue in honoring the history of this bridge for decades to come. and now, following the lead of the governor and mayor, it is my privilege to present a framed copy of the official congressional statement, record honoring the 75th anniversary of the golden gate bridge, so that my colleagues can see it and take pride in this bridge, which we honor, from sea to shining sea. thank you all very much. [applause] >> congresswoman, i think you so much, and congratulations on your anniversary and port for 25

years and even more years of service, for our city, state, and our country. it is very much appreciated. you have changed the world. thank you. [applause] and i know you will not believe this, but i have actually not an acknowledged someone in the audience, and that is our first lady of the great city and county of san francisco, anita lee. anita, welcome. [applause] now is my pleasure to induce someone who i have done very well because he has the awesome responsibility to care for this bridge we all love so much. he is also responsible for ensuring the safe crossing of the day for people in cars, people in buses, ferries, bikes, and on foot. please welcome the night general manager of the golden gate bridge highway and transportation district, mr.

dennis mulligan. [applause] >> thank you, janet. it is a pleasure to be here today with all of you to celebrate this momentous occasion. over 75 years ago, people said this bridge cannot be built. not only has it been built, but it has been cared for over these many decades. the construction and steel -- did not happen on its own. it has taken the ingenuity of designers, architects, and part of men and women in labor. this bridge has tested the time -- blasted pay test of time. this has been a national lamarck for all the speed whether painting, repairing, retrofitting, were operating the bridge, dedicated group of women and men worked nonstop to bring a tradition of public service to all of us that we can all be proud of mandibulate. representing this tradition, we have the families of some of the original engineers and

gatekeepers, the past and current bridge workers. i would never introduce the relatives of those that greeted this fabulous bridge. any project like this is a team effort. it takes civic leaders, money, creative people, and tremendous amounts of hard work. i would ask that you hold your applause until everyone has been acknowledged. we are pleased to have descendants of the original chief engineer joseph strauss with us today. lee hammill. drew and eric gottlieb. we are also fortunate to have descendants of the chief resident engineer did the construction, russell cohen. two of his granddaughters are here today. thank you for coming. we also have descendants of the

state legislature. it takes civic leaders and legislation and people who have the vision to make this happen. the bill was signed in 1923 and authorize the creation of the golden gate bridge and highway district. his granddaughter is here with us today from chicago. alan, thank you for coming so far. christopher mcdonald is the grandson of the third general manager, alan macdonald. we also have with us those of us whose fathers and grandfathers help to bridge -- bill this magnificent bridge. that then, unfortunately, it was most in men that did the construction. today, it has changed dramatically. now want to ask the current bridge workers to stand up to big knowledge. any of them around the perimeter. finally, i want to recognize someone who has been recognized at least once. gus, we are pleased to have you here. you were a teenager when you

work on the bridge. we are so blessed to have you here today. thank you for being here. [applause] when the bridge was built in the 1930's, -- we currently do not own this land -- is owned by the government. but we got a permit by the department of board to build this bridge. the tradition of the military goes well beyond that. we are thrilled this memorial day weekend to celebrate another tradition in the passing of this bridge, military service. uniformed men and women shipping out as our madam leader said earlier. during world war ii, more than 5000 ships sailed under the bridge. it is the last of the men and women going to the korean war and in vietnam. add to these historic links, as the golden gate bridge was opened up in 1957, that had a week-long celebration for sailors. sailors have a long history of celebrating in san francisco,

too. reflecting on this history of military service and the passage of military vessels, we are pleased to announce in a half hour the destroyer uss decatur will pass underneath the golden gate bridge. it is arriving in the bay area for a change of command ceremony. we are very fortunate to have the uss decatur joining us. please join me in welcoming the mother of the current commander of the uss to cater -- decatur. [applause] we also have with us today the future commander of this vessel. thank you. [applause] at 11:30, you can go up to the flagpole and look down to see the uss decatur make the pass under the bridge. another extra surprise for all of us, later this weekend, an

aircraft carrier, the uss nimitz, will also sale underneath the bridge. it is my honor to extend our appreciation to those in the military community and those in the san francisco fleet week committee. thank you for organizing this weekend. [applause] thank you very much. >> thank you so much. now i would like to welcome two civic leaders known and loved throughout our city for their civic leadership and for their service. nancy hellman of the presidio trust and the larrybair -- and larry bair of the standards as the giant. we were pleased when they both agree to co-chair as our

celebration. the steering committee has been to critical to success of this anniversary. have spearheaded the yearlong program of events and tributes, the anniversary weekend events, and have raised corporate and philanthropic funds to support this effort. nancye and mary, i invite you to introduce the ceremony of opening our anniversary gift to the bridge. please give a warm welcome to nancye helmand bechtel and mr. larry baer. [applause] >> i have to say, it has been a real thrill for the entire year i worked on this. what could be better than to be involved that great icon back there? it is a work of art, it is an engineering marvel. when dennis was talking about

the armed services, service personnel who came in and out of the bay, when we talk to them about being part of the celebration, they were thrilled to do it. as i said, more than just this beautiful icon we have, it was a symbol to them of liberty, democracy, and as they left, it was the last thing they saw as they sailed out of the golden gate, the first thing that impressed them as they came back in. to our many service people throughout the world, it is an icon, exactly like the statue of liberty in new york city. it has been a pleasure to work with larry, co-chair. i think many people thought that he would be chosen because orange is the color of the san francisco giants, but that is not true. he was chosen because he is a

great civic leader and a fourth generation, like i am. anyways, please welcome mr larry baer. [applause] >> thank you. it has taken me a little while to figure out, but i have realized i was selected because of my neck tie collection for work and my wife pam's scarf collection. i have to say, it has been a great pleasure working with you. your leadership, creativity. i want to call out a few other people already. without him, it would have been impossible for the celebration to happen. greg moore, thank you so much for everything you have done. i also want to give special thanks to stacy slaughter, senior vice president of the giants. she issenior vice president of the giants. she has done so much to make all this happen as well.

the bridge, as has been mentioned, is a symbol of the city to the world. but i want today just a second mentioning that it is also a symbol of the city and to all of us to those who live in and around the city. i grew up just over there in the richmond district and still live in that general area. i have to say that when things are rough, things are down, i personally, and i believe a lot of other people do this, take a walk and look at the bridge. look at and are inspired by the creation and the sacrifice that went into building the bridge and think about what it means to our community. it is a symbol of life. i think that that is true of so many people, whether you live in the city or around the city or come to the city. this again it is something we can pause and think about. it is something very special.

it is also a symbol to the world that our baseball team embraces. last friday night, the giants war in our game against the a's -- the giants wore some of the anniversary patches, and we won the game. [laughter] [applause] in the eighth inning, and this is some of you have seen, as we go to the bottom of the eighth inning, we play one of two songs. both in journey songs. one isli the oneghts." we play that it we are had -- one is "lights, to which we play for your head. the other one if we are behind is "don't stop believing." with those presentations, there are themes of san francisco, but there is always one theme that pops up, and it is a picture of the bridge.

and that theme always gets a roaring applause. i think it is very special that we have so many wonderful icons in the city and so much going on but the bridge stands apart. next time you're at a game, noticed in the bottom of the eighth presentation, before the bottom of the it's, you will see that bridge pop and people go crazy. it is very special. a year-and-a-half ago, two years ago, we took to deciding on a way to commemorate the world series, a ring to commemorate the world series win. the people at the giants and the people at tiffany's got together to figure out what should be on the ring. not a lot of room necessarily, although it is pretty dog gone big. and there was one image that had to be placed on the ring, and you can guess what that images.

very proudly, everybody, every player that played for the giants that year wears the ring probably, as the front office members. the ring with the golden gate bridge as the symbol front and center as a part of that ring. i wanted to once again acknowledge, because they have been so central to what we have been able to accomplish with this anniversary celebration, our sponsors, our tower supporters. wells fargo, celebrating its 160 it anniversary this year. they have just been phenomenal. talk about the perfect connection to the bridge with their history. hewlett-packard, who as a breeze to engineering and innovation, just as the bridge represents innovation. they are another partner. genentech. also an educational partner and an innovator in the health care world. and kaiser permanente a who saw

the power of the bridge in the surrounding park lands to bring exercise to the community and the millions of people who, thanks to the wonderful work that has been done over the years in congress, have allowed our surrounding areas here to be full of people that walk, jog, and by the bridge a nearby park lands. please join me in thanking these towers sponsors. [applause] quickly, at the cable and builders of a ship level, again, really rock rib, san francisco bay area companies that mean so much to our communities that have joined us. levi strauss, chevron, pg&e, odwalla, handsome bridget, and spec products. they're usually responsible with this week in and celebrating a bridge that connects all of us whether you live here or a far.

thank you so much. [applause] >> we're almost there, folks. mary and nancy, thank you again so much. and to all of your steering committee members for your incomparable leadership at the 75th anniversary of our golden gate bridge. before we go unwrapped our gift to the bridge, i want to thank all of you for being here with us today. it has been a real pleasure and an honor for us to have you here. our official program is going to end in a few minutes. before we move across to the street, we're going to move to the renovated roundhouse and pavilion. they have a giant scissors, and we're going to cut the ribbon. but now, before we do that, from the cast of "beach blanket babylon," please welcome tammy nelson, who will get us in the gift openings spirit. come on up, tammy.

[cheers and applause] >> whoa. >> i do expect you all to support me on this, not just by listening, but by singing along. ♪ >> it only takes a tiny corner of this great big world to find a place that you love my home upon the hill i find i love you still i've been away but now i'm back to tell you san francisco open your golden gate you let no stranger wait outside

your door san francisco here is you're wondering one saying no wonder no more the places only make me love you tell me your the heart of all the golden west the golden west san francisco welcome me home again i'm coming home to thgo roamingo more ♪ [cheers and applause]

because we have a great waste water system here in san francisco, we do about 80 million gallons of waste water here in san francisco, which means we basically fill up 120 olympic sized swimming pools each and every day here in the city. we protect public health and safety and environment because we are discharging into the bay and into the ocean. this is essentially the first treatment here at our waste water treatment facility. what we do is slow down the water so that things either settle to the bottom or float to the top. you see we have a nice selection of things floating around there, things from bubble gum wrappers, toilet paper, whatever you dump down the toilet, whatever gets into our storm drains, that's what

gets into our waste water treatment and we have to clean. >> see these chains here, this keeps scum from building up. >> on this end in the liquid end basically we're just trying to produce a good water product that doesn't negatively impact the receiving water so that we have recreation and no bad impact on fish and aquatic life. solids is what's happening. . >> by sludge, what exactly do you mean? is that the actual technical term? . >> it's a technical term and it's used in a lot of different ways, but this is organic sewage sludge. basically what it is is, oh, maybe things that come out of your garbage disposal, things

that are fecal in nature. it's sludge left in the water after the primary treatment, then we blend those two over and send them over to digestion. this building is built to replace tanks here that were so odoriferous they would curl your hair. we built this as an interim process. >> is there a coagulant introduced somewhere in the middle of this? . >> this coagulant brings solids together and lets the water run through. that gives us more time in the digestion process, more time to reduce the amount of solids. these are the biggest ones in the world, like we always like to do in san francisco. they are 4 meter, there's none like it in the world. >> really? wow. >> three meters, usually. we got the biggest, if not the

best. so here we are. look at that baby hum. river of sludge. >> one of the things is we use bacteria that's common in our own guts to create this reduction. it's like an extra digestion. one of the things we have to do to facilitate that is heat that sludge up and keep it at the temperature our body likes, 98.6 degrees. >> so what we have here is the heat exchanger for digester no. 6. these clog up with debris and we're coming in to -- next wet weather season so we always come through here, clean them out, make sure that we get maximum heat exchange during the colder wet weather. sludge season. >> rubber glove. >> right here. >> rubber glove, excellent. all right, guys.

>> thank you. >> good luck. >> this is the full on hazmat. . >> residual liquid. we're taking it time to let it drain. we don't want to get sludge on it necessarily. take your time. stand on the side of it. . >> should we let it release for a while? . >> let it release. >> is that the technical term? . >> this is the most important bolt on the whole thing. this is the locking bolt. it locks this thing right in place. so now. >> take your hammer and what we want to do, we get rag build up right in here.

the hot water recirculates right in here, the sludge recirculates in here. the sludge sometimes has rags in it. all we want to do is go around the clean the rags. let me show you how. take the slide hammer, go all the way through the back, go around. >> got you. >> during the real rainy season, how does that change the way dealing with this ob? is it a lot more stuff in there? . >> what we do, charles, we do this quarterly. every four months we go around and clean all the heat exchangers so we don't have a large build up. . >> go around? . >> yeah.

(sound of hammering). >> what i'm trying to do, charles, is always pull it out on the low stroke. >> right. so you are not, like, flying out. now talk about clean up. . >> then where does this stuff get deposited? . >> we're going to dump it in a debris box and it will go back to the plant. >> if you think back, the romans came up with a system of plumbing that allowed us it use water to transport waste away from the hub of civilization, which enabled cities to grow. . >> you have a large bowl, a drive motor and another motor

with a planetary gearbox with differential pressure inside there. the large mass up there spinning separating the solids from the liquid. we have to prevent about once a month, we go in there grease those, change the oil, check the vibration levels. the operators can tell just by the hum of that machine that it's a harmonic noise emitted that it's out of balance and the machine needs to be cleaned. it will start vibrating and we have vibration analysis machines that will come over here and check the levels. so it's kind of an on-going thing that you have to stay on top of on a daily basis. >> handled properly, you take organic residuals, as we call them, that are leftovers of our society and turn them back into

some energy. and we have another ability to take that sludge and get a nutrient value for crops there. we actually are running a kind of composting energy recovery system. >> well, this is a dirty job. we try to do it safely and we try to do it without imposing too much on the public. people want to flush their toilets and have things go away and not be bothersome again. we do a lot to try to accomplish that. i'd like to invite you to come back any time you want. once you got this in your blood, you are not going to be able to stay away. the raging waters are fun and when we do digester cleaning i really hope you can come back. that's quite a sight. >> yeah, that sounds interesting. >> i really appreciate you coming by and it was a

>> when the new california academy of sciences opened in 2008, it quickly became one of the top tourist magnets in the city. the top tourist magnets in the city.