children with disabilities, and even a sand garden with chines and drums. >> it is a visionary $3.5 million world class playground in the heart of san francisco. this is just really a big, community win and a celebration for us all. >> to learn more about the helen diller playground in dolores park, go to sfrecpark.org. but the anniversary of the great earthquake was remembered. >> i would like to ask for a minute of silence. >> let's have a moment of silence.

>> they meet for the annual reflating ceremony. he was joined by winnie for an afternoon celebration. we are here to commemorate all that it signifies. at each anniversary the leaders

meet to prepare for the next great quake. bob welcome everybody to the anniversary. i got to say, the mayor gets it done. gooa round of applause for our e

chief's wife. you look terrific. do we have sydney close five? -- close by. we will pass the microphone to the mayor for a couple of quick words. we have a fire chief and the police chief. >> good morning, everyone. 106 years since our earthquake.

we do have a grandson? she was with us in 2009. goopublic works is here.

this reminds us of the 3000 people but passed away in 1906 from the devastating earthquake, but the rebirth of our city is with us. i have been in all of these other positions where we are always prepared. and we are already engaged in recovery efforts. we were there with a whole staff. we have six we assure you that when the next big event happens, that water system will be there for us to deliver water with that 24 hours.

a huge change from depending on this fountain. we are handing it off to generations of youth in the city to understand -- make sure they're prepared. go to our website, it tells you all the things there. iti is about having those items prepared.w we will survive. that is how we get ready and celebrate and honor the people who left us and make sure our city is ready. thank you for being here. congratulations to our survivors. >> very nice job. behind me is a good friend and

a great firechief. you go back 106 years. braxton morning. -- good morning. one of the survivors could not be with us. those are amazing changes. it does give us the opportunity to remember what happened. we commemorate those who suffered losses in their lives and hardships. we also celebrate the city that was nearly swept from the map. the fires raged for three days and caused rates -- great devastation. we take the opportunity to educate everyone. it is a pleasure for me to work under the direction of mayor lee. he is a public safety

championship. he is a prepared as champion. he lives it. i have seen his kids and his workplace. it is all about teamwork. i am proud to be working with chief suhr. and scott weiner, it is a pleasure to have you out here. we appreciate it. it is a great team. thank you to the people who are out here. and also our partners with the american red cross. who are here this morning. thank you for being here. it has been a tradition for many of us out here. i hope you have a great day and you remember what happened 106 years ago. it is great to be a san franciscan.

>> a nice hand for the chief, everybody. i have seen this other chief speaking in the last couple of times. a nice hand for chief suhr. >> good morning. our fire chief said it. we're lucky in san francisco. we have a mayor who has moved through the tears of prepared as an goddess ready to go. we get a little more prepared every day. god bless to the survivors. >> thank you. >> it is a minute of silence at 5-11. -- 51:11 p.m. let's have a moment of silence for a minute right now.

[siren]

>> i think the fitting way to end this germany first of all, -- this ceremony first of all. there will be playing. everybody have their words right

here? i will give the countdown. as we hang the reece, i will give you a count here. have a look at me. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1. ♪ [singing] ♪ ♪

>> a great day, everybody. thank you. the san francisco chornicle. and the history association. and the neighborhood emergency response team. the american red cross. and thanks for making this happen. i want to invite everyone to go to 20th in church or -- and

church. and we will meet up. we may skirt the law and serve something before 6:00 a.m. the bookmobile, where are they? >> i have my cheat sheet here which i cannot find. the library has been here after great disasters. there has -- is a special book that won an award this year. here is the book. i downloaded it on my kindle. it can check out copies of the book mobile. nex>> thanks for being here.

start walking slowly. welcome to san francisco, everyone. ♪ >> good morning. good morning. thank everybody for being here. what a wonderful, marvelous day in san francisco.

commissioner david stern is almost clairvoyant in such a way. he is a marketing genius. years ago, he came up with the slogan "i love this game." when people say that, you know exactly what they are talking about. they are talking about an nba basketball game. one of its marketing slogans from this season is -- big things are coming. we had a great season. we are having a big playoff run right now. it is more than certainly appropriate for today because five years from now, there is going to be the most impressive of arena in america sitting right here on the spear -- this pier. i'm not sure there is any bigger news in the nba, except maybe that the warriors got a big man, but it goes along with the whole thing. today is the culmination of incredible vision by a mayor and a group of owners, who are 100%

committed to creating something really special for the citizens of the bay area, not only basketball fans, but everyone interested in entertainment. it is rare that a sports team has the ability to impact an entire region. the building of this venue in the country will have positive ramifications on fans far and wide. that is unique, and that is what makes a tremendous day for the city of san francisco, the warriors, and the entire bay area community. i would like to introduce to you some of our speakers on the day is today. the city's 43rd mayor and the city's first asian-american mayor in the city's history. he is from seattle, i'm from tacoma, and we have that together. he is known as a job as mayor and an innovation mayor for his focus on job creation and economic development. ladies and gentlemen, san

francisco mayor, ed lee. [applause] mayor lee: thank you. good morning, everybody. welcome. it is great to be reunited with my long-lost brothers, separated at birth. david lee, his younger brother. i just wanted to welcome all of you. we have a great representation of the whole city family here today. commissioners from our port, staff from our ports, the recreation and park department, our planning department, we have our board of supervisors from hong all of the different districts. we have representatives from chinatown, bayview, sunset, bernal heights, ever with this city is committed to working with the warriors to make sure we have this i read a billed by the 2017 nba season, and we are very committed to getting that done. the warriors have in the bay area's basketball team for 50

years, and today sets the stage for the warriors to be our bay area team for another 50 years. [applause] all right. it has been 41 years since the warriors played here in san francisco, and in my humble opinion, it is time to welcome them home. [applause] this new sports and entertainment facility will bay area residents. it will generate tens of millions of dollars in economic growth each year, and games and events will bring people from all over the region. the money they spend will benefit our local economy and our local businesses. this project will be more public transit accessible than almost any other are rena in the nation. it is accessible to bark, and unique, the ferries, and our new transbay terminal that will

be up and running in the next three years, making it easier for people from all over the bay area to come to games without driving. this project will also be a responsible development. we're talking about taking a pier that has been the home and host of our ships coming from the military, and international cruise ships from all over the world, canada, and europe, but it needs a lot of work. it needs major work. it needs cleaning up and strengthening the site and making it usable. we are not developing on any existing green spaces. we will be adding new ones and bringing thousands of people to the waterfront. this project means enormous economic growth for our city.

thank you for being here. i'm looking forward to a dedicated five-year joe and peter and all the warriors team. the new revenue we seek to have from this arena and this facility can be used with services for our local residents' needs and public safety. our schools. our whole repairs, public transit, programs for our youth and programs for our seniors. we look forward to working with you, all of the ownership, and i'm excited, and we are committed, and we look forward to getting this done. thank you very much. [applause] >> our next speaker led a distinguished ownership group in the purchase of the warriors had a record price of $450 million less than two years ago, and prior to owning the warriors, he

served as a minority owner -- [laughter] he served as a minority owner of the boston celtics, including when the celtics captain the nba championship. now, his vision is to build a spectacular new arena on san francisco bay. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you come and mr.mayor. this has been a remarkable journey for us. we did pay the highest price ever paid for an nba franchise, david. [laughter] david just called me the tire kickers. i do not think he is doing that anymore to. we have had a lasting five months of interaction with the mayor of san francisco, ed and

his staff. it has been a wonderful five months. incredibly positive. justa can-do attitude about the project. there will be many challenges, but this next five years will be as big as the relationship we have had over the last five months. [applause] so, as the mayor said, we have just celebrated the 150th season in the bay area -- the warrior'' season in the bay area, and now, we embark on the next eight years. with the cost of this arena, it may take us 50 years to pay it back. we hope to be here, obviously, for a very long time, right here on this site in this very beautiful city. we put a lot of time and effort into this search. for the last 18 months, we have looked everywhere. we decided what is the best thing for our fans, where do we go, what will be best for our

fans at games? how can we make this the best possible venue and team in the nba? we decided on this site. it was not an easy decision. we looked at a number of sites, and, you know, we are faced with a pretty tight timeline. our lease expires in 2017, so we have five years, and it takes probably all of that. it will be a tight timeline, as we discussed. it will take all that to get this done in terms of getting the permits and of that and building the arena. we are very, very appreciative to the home we have had in oakland for the last 40 years or so. it has been a great community, but what people do not understand is that in fact, our fan base is really the key/50, and we do not release this information all the time, but it is 50% on the west bay and 50% on the east bay, so we are the

bay area basketball team, and we had to find the best site to serve the majority of our fans and provide that experience, and we settled at the end of the day on this site right here in this beautiful city. let me leave you with four main points as to why -- first, we intend to build the most spectacular arena in the country. for all bay area residents, not just an francisco, that they can be proud of. and architecturally significant building on truly an iconic site. it does not get any better than this. we intend to do everything in our power to have a team as well that matches the standard of what this a real is going to be, both now and over the course of the next five years. let's not forget this -- winning -- where is mark jackson? winning remains our number one priority. this army that is about winning, just like the team on the court.

-- this i read at jig thisarena -- this arena is about winning. it is important to understand we are privately funding this, and we think that is important. we know these communities are challenged by a lot of different economic issues, and we could go through those. we all know what they are. we knew we could have tried to get some public financing as has been done in other places around the country. the beautiful the stadium we have gone and seen in orlando, and others. we felt the right thing to do was if we could get the right deal on a parcel of land, a great piece, we would come in and build this arena. i want everyone to understand that it can be done and it will be done. it is going to happen. we are going to be year in 2017, and our neighbors to the south, the giants, have proven that a privately financed been you, a stadium in there is, can be done

very well and work for everybody. the third point i would like to make is that we thought it was also very important to have a venue that could be accessible via public transportation. very accessible. not just for warrior games, but for conventions and concerts' and all the other events that will be here. this is not just an urban or basketball. that is -- what? 50, 60 events? i'm not sure of the exact number. 57 or something. but also all the other events that are year. this is more than just an army that. this is a live entertainment venue, a multifaceted venue that we're going to try to put year -- this is more than just an hour arena -- this is more than just an arena appeared retell, restaurants, a place to eat, a sports bar -- all kinds of things that will be at this site. it will be very exciting.

it is going to change, just like the giants changed the on the embarcadero little further, we're going to change this part of the embarcadero for the city forever. thanks to the mayor for coming aggressively after us and bringing us here, and thanks to everyone who helped make this day happen. [applause] than the 57 games? does that include playoffs and nba championships, mark? [laughter] a prominent figure in both the entertainment and sports business over 30 years, he is the founder and ceo of mentally ill to attend a, a visionary of multimedia ventures spanning movie, tv, sports and in addition to garnering more than 50 academy award nominations, he has become actively involved in the theater business, in recent years in professional baseball ownership for one of his minor league teams, the dayton dragons, has established the all-time professional sports record for consecutive sellouts

at over 850 straight games, which is quite a record. he now plans to create the most incredible fan experience in the nba right here on san francisco bay. ladies and gentlemen, the co- executive chairman of the warriors, peter gruber. [applause] >> wow. this is fantastic. i remember growing up in boston gardens, the balcony, and obstructed viewing. suddenly, we are talking about this kind of a venue. i want to say that i have a great partner in joe. he is just great, and that is one of the reasons why i think we will succeed, and it is one of the reasons why it will be fun. in a stage in life, i want it to be fun. the other three-letter word starts with an s and ends with a