>> good morning, everyone. i am the president of the board of directors of the golden gate bridge highway and transportation district. it is my absolute pleasure to welcome all of you here this morning. thank you so much for coming out. as caretakers of this magnificent bridge, all of us here in the district know how treasured this landmark is and we know that each of us sees this bridge as our very own. it has its own personal meeting, its own history, and even its own emotional pull. that is why we celebrate this 75th anniversary with the theme bridging us all. since its inception, the golden gate bridge has had the power to connect us, and we happily share this bridge with the city, the bay area, state, nation, and

even the world. to kick off our celebration today, it is only fitting that we are joined by so many special guests, the people, organizations, and public agencies that have been absolutely instrumental in helping us kick off this anniversary celebration. first, i would like to welcome the wonderful organizing partners of our 75th anniversary and all those representing those partners who have joined with us here today. we begin with the golden gate bridge highway transportation district board and staff. [applause] raise your hand, board members and staff. the golden gate national parks conservancy board, board associates, and staff. where are you? [applause] the national park service. [applause]

the presidio trust board and staff. [applause] and the elected officials and the staff of the great city and county of san francisco. [applause] than today we want to welcome our corporate partners who have supported our anniversary with funding and communications support. we are especially grateful to our to our partners. genentech, represented by jeffrey teeter. [applause] hewlett-packard, represented today by kirsten rivera. [applause] kaiser permanente take, represented by yvette radford. [applause] wells fargo, represented by

richard belite. [applause] to our cable partner, odwalla, represented by mason thorton. [applause] to our building partner, chevron, represented by russ yaro. [applause] david miller. [applause] levi strauss and co., represented by jill nash. [applause] pg&e, represented today by tony early. [applause] who proposed to his beautiful wife on the golden gate bridge. a fantastic story. [applause] speeck products -- speck

products, represented by their whole marketing team. [applause] thank you all so much. we would not be here without your brief and to support. please join me in expressing our gratitude to our media and promotion partners -- and this is quite a list. nbc bay area. [applause] san francisco chronicle, sf gate, kgo, knbr, kfso, san francisco magazine, san francisco travels, telemundo, and because it is the 21st century, twitter. and of course, we are grateful to our business and individual contributors, through our joseph strauss legacy circle. we welcome all of them here

today. for the lead car predict we thank bank of america foundation. thank you. [applause] and deep gratitude to the reset and of goldman fund for your the individual gift. thank you so much lisa and doug. [applause] today, on this memorial day weekend, we are honored to be joined by representatives from our armed forces and san francisco fleet week association, who will be introduced later in the program. [applause] finally, we are thrilled to have so many public agencies, special districts, and elected officials joined us today. we have to of representatives from congresswoman woolsey's office and jackie spear's office. we want to welcome you. [applause] we have supervisors here today

representing the board of supervisors from our six golden gate counties, and we extend our warmest welcome to all of you. [applause] today, the six counties that put up everything they had to build this bridge. we certainly honor you today. as we stand in the great city of san francisco, we want to offer a special welcome to the president of the san francisco board of supervisors, mr. david chiu. [applause] david, we welcome your colleagues as well. of course, we are honored to have with us so many of our transportation partners at the federal, state, regional, and county levels. thank you very much. there are a lot of people to think. today, we officially open in amazing collection of gives made in honor of the anniversary.

the british pavilion, as you can see behind me, is our new welcome place an interpretation. the enlarged josef strauss plaza is a place for visitors to gather. the renovated round house visitor program center is a place of education and discovery and memory. just beyond where we stand today, you can see our improved trails and new overlooks constructed as an additional anniversary gifts. we hope you have your tennis shoes on and can go for a hike after this is over. we want to extend our sincere and special thanks to the golden gate national parks conservancy. they are a nonprofit connecting the bridge to a nearby national park. we thank them for raising the funds to celebrate the anniversary and building the improvements that we will dedicate today, in concert with the national parks service. we owe them a great debt of

gratitude [applause] --gratitude. [applause] the conservancy did not do it alone. they were supported by a stellar collection of civic leaders who volunteer their time and talents to serve on the golden gate bridge anniversary steering committee. the committee is headed by cochairs nancye helman and larry bear. without their of leadership, none of this would have been possible. [applause] i want to welcome not only them, but all of the steering committee, and the host committee members who are here today. please identify yourself. [applause] the bridge and the city of san francisco have a special connection. cynically, physically, and culturally. we have been so honored to have

the city as an organizing partner for the 75th anniversary with a fabulous leadership of mayor at the and the super support of the special events director martha colon, as well as all of the city departments. ladies and gentlemen, please help me in giving a warm welcome to the mayor who bridges us all, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you very much for that wonderful welcome. thank you, everyone, for coming. we are glad you are so boring. that is wonderful. -- so orange. thank you for joining all of us. so glad to be here with our board of supervisors, police chief, fire chief, so many of our other department directors. a wonderful occasion to celebrate the 75th anniversary of this iconic symbol and a

bridge for so many other reasons, not just transportation. in fact, when i was courting and the head back in hong kong those days, it was both the golden arches and the golden gate bridge that i tried to get her over here. it is my pleasure to join all of you. i want to welcome governor brown, leader pelosi. thank you for your wonderful years of service. we just honored nancy for her 25 years in service. thank you so much for your service. jerry, your 2500 years of service. [laughter] i want to also recognize our general superintendent, frank dean, thank you for being here.

craig milton, our presidio trust general executive director. brent mar, ceo of our national park conservancy. dennis mulligan, and general manager of the bridge highway district transportation. of course, i want to reiterate janet's praise for larry and nancy for coming up with the celebration. i cannot think of a better parent to come up with this. thank you for your wonderful leadership. [applause] today is not only a great celebration for our bridge but also a time to do some reflection on what it has meant to us. as janet said earlier, we talk about today, what i've tried to do, making sure we aren't the

innovation capital of the world, but in 1937, this bridge was the national symbol of innovation. a great effort behind this bridge. joseph strauss, charles ellis' fantastic design and leadership. of course, i have been tried to remember the mayor at that time -- andrew rossi -- his leadership as well. when we completed this bridge, it was not without cost, so we have to take a moment for the fantastic efforts. we did lose a few lives in constructing this bridge, so i want to make sure that we honor that fantastic effort during that time. it was that symbol of prosperity, the beauty of our city that was being designed, and it has become and continues to be the symbol for our international world-class reputation for progress, grove,

and continued innovation. i see this bridge has a symbol that is stronger than ever, being a bridge for everybody in the world, the gateway to the far east, as well as from them to the rest of our country. we are still the finest city in the world. international capital of the world. i want to continue that and will come thousands of visitors each year who come here to celebrate and think of this bridge as our image, as our welcoming sign. not only celebrating the bridge on memorial day, when we remember our veterans, but we will also continue the symbol for generations to come as we invite them -- whether it is a bicycle race or the u.s. open, or later on this year and the america's cup -- that we

continue to allow our iconic views from this bridge to symbolize that we continue to be a bridge for everybody. back in 1937, when joseph strauss said, on the completion of this bridge, he said i present to you a bridge that will last forever. here we are, 75 years later, celebrating not only the iconic symbol that it has, but that our continued symbol throughout america, our city, and our region, continues to be the hope for everyone. i want to join with all of you and to challenge you to continue the next 75 years of continuing the innovative capital, the place where dreams are actually completed, and so much of our hope, our city, our country, we help celebrate a fantastic

birthday of the golden gate bridge, and as a symbol of that, i want to present to our directors the golden gate bridge anniversary day in san francisco. come on up, larry, nancy. >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee. the golden gate bridge is not only a symbol of san francisco, but a symbol of the state of california. the feel of the state of california shote -- seal of the state of california shows the state before the bridge was built. today, i do not think there are too many people that have difficulty finding our bridge. now we understand the many ways in which this harbor has represented the promise of california since the gold rush times.

indeed, it is my honor to welcome to the podium, a man whose family name is synonymous with the state of california, whose father served on the golden gate bridge port of directors a few years ago, and who himself has many ties to our beautiful golden gate bridge. ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the great governor of the great state of california, gov. jerry brown. [applause] >> thank you. it is really an exciting day. i am glad you reminded me that my father was on the golden gate bridge authority. growing up as kids, we had a free pass. every time we went across the bridge, we never had to pay the toll. i thought that was a little unreasonable. that is when i got my first

notion of political reform. [applause] -- [laughter] in those days, if you were on the bridge authority, you got a free pass to cross the bridge. we have lost a few of those good perks that stimulated a lot of good work. by the way, my sister cynthia, she walked across the bridge the first day. [applause] there she is. my father has a picture of that. i was not born yet. it was the next year. [laughter] by the way, 1937, there was higher unemployment than aren't we do then there is today. and most people were a lot for them there are today. when people say we cannot afford

it, you have to question that. when we could not afford it, we greet -- built great monuments, great expressions of courage. that is what this bridge represents. [applause] now we want to distinguish between foolishness and boldness. but if we are never bowled, we never get anything done. yes, we have a lot of problems and we need some fiscal discipline, that is true, but still have to invest. weather is the city hall in san francisco for this bridge or our airports, high-speed rail, completing the california water plant. we have to build, invest, and we have to do that together, as a people. that is what this bridge represents. i am glad that we are thinking about stuff that happened 75 years ago. to not tell me about how much it will cost this year. how much will it give us over the next 100 years?

i have to make my point about the high speed rail. you cannot build it they say. they said you could not build this. they said you could not build the panama canal. they said you could not build the suez canal. all of the small minds always shrink in the face of great challenges. but that is not what it means to be a californian. my own great-grandfather came out here in 1852. that took courage. it was not easy to get here by stagecoach. he came and he went back across panama, got a wife in germany, and came back, all the way around in south america. ok, that was tough. do not shrink because you have a few budget cuts or some taxes.

suck it in. we have to build, we have to do it right. this bridge really expresses that sense. people in the middle ages were poor, too, and we have inequality and all sorts of problems, but when they build those cathedrals, they had a vision. when people were putting those bricks one on top of another, they were not going to see the final outcome. it took 125 years. this bridge only took a few years. high speed rail may take 10 years. but we have to get off of -- if it does not happen tomorrow, i will not do it. we are connected to those who came before us and those who come after us. a bridge connects one side to another and we are connected today to our past and future. what a great day. it is golden gate bridge day,

not just in san francisco, but in california. [applause] >> i am going to ask dennis mulligan about those free passes across the bridge for directors. governor brown, thank you for those aspirational, inspirational words, and for all of you have done for the great state of california. thank you very much. [applause] now i would like to recognize our other organizing partners for this anniversary celebration. first, our neighbor and great friend, the superintendent of the golden gate national parks, please give a warm welcome to mr. frank dean. [applause] >> thank you, janet.

thank you, governor, for your remarks about public works and public-service. as superintendent of the golden gate national parks, there can be no more but the place and the namesake of our park, the golden gate. today, we are standing at the very center of a vast urban national park that is connected by the spectacular bridge. i might add, this national park is celebrating its 40th anniversary celebration this year. just as this national park resulted from a surprising vision, so, too, did the bridge. here we have the perfect blend of human achievement and natural splendor or. when the golden gate bridge was proposed, many people questioned whether it could live up to the beauty of the golden gate straight, the natural break that connected san francisco bay to the ocean. we can see today that the natural beauty was not only

matched, but enhanced. as stewards of the national park lands that greed and support this bridge, we are honored to be partners in this celebration of its every fifth anniversary. congratulations and we look for too long partnership had. thank you, janet. [applause] >> thank you so much, frank, thank you so much for what you do for our parks every day. it is very much appreciated. as many of you know, the golden gate bridge district is a special district. in its time, it was an innovation in bringing together a unique and different public agency to fund and manage and construct this bridge. so in that spirit, it is my pleasure to recognize another innovative public agency, the presidio trust. like the bridge district, the like the bridge district, the presidio trust is charged with