you get things done. president obama and vice- president biden have made some of the most significant investments in our railroad in infrastructure since the days of abraham lincoln. they have helped turn high-speed rail from a dream long in the distance, to reality. with last week's vote, california will help lead the way to bring high-speed passenger rail to america. as many of you know, california will add 700 million residents in the next couple of years but it already has some of the most delay-prone airports and infrastructure. just on airline delays and high with traffic jams along california's credit highway's cost businesses and residents $14.5 billion per year. this rail line will ultimately lead passengers travel from los angeles to san francisco in less than three hours, twice as fast as you can drive. the california high-speed rail network is not just a logical answer to the states congestion

problems, it is a landmark accomplishment for america. once again, california leads the nation on transportation. [applause] let us not forget this is the state that built the golden gate bridge,ur earliest highways, and was the terminus of the transcontinental railroad. just like those projects, today 's investment will improve people's lives for generations to come. in addition to faster travel, high-speed rail will bring economic development. transportation is a tool for economic development and a better quality of life. there is no better illustration than this project. that is only part of our vision for a seamless transportation never can california. we are investing in urban transportation systems in los angeles, prior role transportation option throughout the state, and investing millions in california's ports

and waterways. this project at uc was funded with recovery act money. that is economic stimulus that will continue to pay off for generations. i commend the california legislature for taking the historic vote to fund a high- speed rail project. your readership reminds us that californians have always embraced gold divisions and public projects that charts the way for the rest of the nation. the department of transportation looks for to breaking ground with california as we move together on high-speed rail. let me leave you with one thought. look around at the infrastructure here in san francisco or in california, or for that matter, anywhere in the u.s. if you look at it closely and are honest with yourself, you know it was designed and built and paid for by our parents and grandparents. in many cases, by our great grandparents. that you have to ask yourself a second question. are we doing right by the next

generation, are we paying it forward? will we leave a better standard of living, better environment, and better quality of life? i think you know the answer to that. no. that is why president obama, vice-president biden, and secretary lahood are so energized about high-speed rail. this is how we will lay the foundation for future prosperity in america. so thank you. [applause] >> thank you, mr. secretary. it gives me great pleasure to introduce our last speaker who deserves tremendous credit for bringing us here today. after being appointed by governor brown to the high-speed rail port, dan richard has made extraordinary progress to make california high speed rail a reality. the skill at building a consensus around high-speed rail and commitment and leadership as chair of the board set a new tone to address serious issues

in a transparent and purposeful way. and he got results. results that we have the pleasure of celebrating today. the california high speed rail system will be a wise investment promises to generate long-term trends and economic benefits for california. please join me in welcoming the california high speed rail chairman dan richard. [applause] >> thank you. thank you, maria. that is very kind. i want to take a few moments. i wanted to acknowledge a couple of people here from the california high speed rail authority, first, my colleague, the former mayor of redwood city, a superb board member, a terrific guy, jim hartnett. [applause] and also we recently appointed a new ceo to the authority. will be his job to get the

organization up and running to build this thing. that is jeff morales. [applause] as maria said, the only way we can building in california these days is in a partnership situation, and we have many of our partnership stakeholders with us today. jim from the california transportation commission is here and the california alliance for jobs. he is the guy tried to put these guys to work. randy from the mtc and his boss steve. they are the ones that put the deal together for us for caltrain electrification. the new head of bart has done a spectacular job. [applause] and from our friends in the central valley who cannot wait for the opportunity to get on a train and leave fresno when it is 112 and come to visit san francisco to visit the chocolate

factory, we have henry perea and others from the economic development commission. it is about tying our great state together, and that is what we would do with high-speed rail. for me, watching this process has been an education in leadership. it does not take anything to be a leader when the decisions are easy. believe me. it takes courage and grit when the decisions are hard. our governor, when he came into office, was faced with everyone telling him, this is your opportunity to take the off ramp. do not do high-speed rail. you can walk away. that would have been the easy, expedient, a political thing to do. we are here today because gov. jerry brown did not take the easy path. he took the path of investing in our future. you, gov.. >> many times, people say to me

-- gee, how are you going to build this? i said, let's look at the lineup. they've got their dream? -- they've got their dream. we start with the president of the united states, the vice president of the united states, the secretary of transportation, the governor of california, the speaker, and the mayor of our great city. mayor lee. one other group i want to make sure we do not forget -- our a- number one congressional leadership delegation. it is very important to

understand, this construction level behind you is because of nancy pelosi. san francisco's unknown. she brought the money. she brought the grit. she brought the vision. she has been with us every step of the way on high-speed rail. if you do not believe that, you can talk to congressional leaders about their this -- their conversations with her while they were deciding what to do. i think everybody knows -- they did not say they should connect san francisco with transkei. what it said was they should

connect with the transgendered bay system. and that is what is going to happen. -- with the transbay system. these men and women in hard hats will start building the spine of the high-speed rail tracks. as i pointed out, we should be proud of that. we need to get on with this, right now. five years from now, what will be happening -- these men and women will be completing the electrification of the caltrain line. that is an important part of this process. we will get from san francisco to san jose, faster, more sustainably, and much cleaner with the caltrain system. 10 years from today, people in los angeles and fresno will be able to move back and forth, and 15 years from today, we will go

from the transbay transit center all the way to disneyland, if you want to. that is what we are building. one last thing. it is not just about high-speed rail. this is part of an integrated transportation plan. we are invested in things like grid electrification. improvements to vpa. the blue line in san diego. this is a 21st century modernization of our rail system. i want to thank all of you. with that, it is time for the bill signing. i would invite all the guests in

the front row to, up. you should join us. -- i would invite all the guests in the front row to come up. you should join us. >> down in front. >> alright. >> we can have one more person up here. [laughter] >> alright.

>> whoo! [cheers and applause] >> so, this is the second time i have assigned this. [laughter] >> the questions from the gallery out there -- >> governor, why aren't you in the belly today -- valley today? >> as you know, it is part of the function here, it is important of the criticisms as well as the success.

it will electrify caltrain from san francisco to stand the pain -- to san jose. this is a bold move with many elements that spell jobs and future prosperity. we will have a lot of investment right here in san francisco and along the coast. yes? >> it is still not funded yet. what do you say about getting that kind of -- >> i am working on that one right now. i am working on getting the started. getting through the fear of fearful men and getting it together. would get stuff going. we have stepped in middlebury.

we have stuff in los angeles. let's start with the first phase and the second phase and rapid a lot. them to talk about how we get here. yes? >> governor, the real authority said passengers may have to change trains three times from l.a.? is that true? >> yes. i long ago stopped listening were taking his advice. it will be one train all the way. it will go all little slower in certain areas. >> governor brown, how concerned are you that californians will not support your tax measure -- >> high speed rail is more

popular than i am right now. if i believe that, i would have packed my bags. i have seen many polls. when the people build the water plant. when the people build the golden gate bridge. there were a lot of naysayers'. the world is filled with fear foremen. but the world is also filled with do worse and leaders -- doers and leaders. my concern is to build a california for the future. we're in a culture of immediate gratification. me, now, ec. -- easy. when people build monasteries, it would start out with one man, then his son, then his son.

we will do this in a generation or two. is an investment in the future. a poll here and a pole there, i don't worry about the field polls. [applause] >> in with the abc station in the central valley. what would you want people to know about the signing? >> this made me more to bakersfield and it does to fresno. -- may mean more to bakersfield and it does to fresno. it will stimulate housing. it will concentrate the range used in a way that will protect agricultural land. it will create the kind of the sustainable communities we will need in a world of climate change.

anybody else? that's it? the chronicle was no questions? [laughter] you were listening. you were tweeting the whole time. >> i have to listen to treat. however negotiations going on? >> i would say with the liberals speed. thank you very much. [applause]

>> will dampen this is it's very special day. -- welcome, everyone. this is a very special day, our day tuesday thank you. it is wonderful that we get this opportunity to thank and i want to give some special acknowledgements to some of our guests today we're joined by the honorable mayor, ed lee. commissioner leslie katz. public works director mohammed nuru. stafano. general manager of turner for construction. i want to thank all of you for being part of our program. we're also joined by the ceo of the america's cup event

authority. i cannot find him that i know he is here somewhere. the ceo of the america's cup organizing committee. the board of the directors of the committee. our very own naomi kelly, city administrator. [applause] the commissioner of the golden gate bridge district. i saw him a minute ago. there you are. our city engineer. mike galt and adam, project managers of america's cup. our architects. our city project team, kim and cindy, ed, edgar, and oscar. all the employees of turner construction and the 32 sub- contracting firms. our cruise terminal volunteers

to meet the guests in the coming in. our port community advisory committee members. i saw several of you here today. our state regulator partners. members of city planning, the board of supervisors, our maritime commu the international longshore and warehouse union members. thank you all for being part of this momentous occasion. [applause] this is a very special day, and i know many of you who follow the mayor of around have been to a lot of these ceremonies, and you're probably wondering why this is such a big deal. this is such a big deal because it represents the first time in 45 years that the board and the city have funded our own and topping off ceremony at the port of san francisco. and 45 years is a very long time. i resemble that time frame, so you know that it has been a very long time coming. it has been a true citywide

effort. i want to run through how important that has been. we have tried many times to get a cruise terminal project going. they started trying back when art agnos was mayor, and this time it finally stuck. i think there is a key. it launched off with an 11- member blue ribbon cruise terminal advisory committee, which was comprised of a lot of very busy and dedicated people who have a passion for having a cruise terminal here in san francisco. the project received key endorsements early on from the iowu. metro cruises. several large cruise lines including princess cruises and holland america. input and support from our community and advisory committees. city departments including the department of city planning. numerous regulators including the bay conservation development

commission. the state lands commission. the regional water quality control board. corps of engineers. i could go on and on. in the fourth quarter of our quest, something miraculous happened to us and we cannot be more grateful. that is that we got a huge push over the finish line from our partners at the america's cup event authority. thank you so much for that. [applause] i want you to take a good long look at the bones of this facility. the structure is built to last a lifetime. it will last for generations. hopefully some day you all well cruise out of here as well as your children and grandchildren. i want you to look at that and feel the pride. mr. mayor, this facility has already won its first award from "cruise insight" magazine for been designed with the most amount of consensus and input. we are extremely proud of that.

it was a new category created just for this cruise ship terminal and it cannot be more fitting. this site is really being transformed. the pier 27 facility opened in 1967. it was part of the pier 27, at 29, 31 cargo facility coming out of world war ii and into the global logistics supply chain which had moved to contain theiri -- containerization. as you can see behind me, it is long as part of the waterfront, whether it is port property or federal property. it is 1100 square feet. and the ships are headed that way as well. behind us is a brand-new facility which will handle our passengers more efficiently as they come off the bigger ships. our current cruise ship terminal, pier 35 was built in

the teens, and it was built for ships that carried 500 passengers. these ships are are tearing up to 5000 passengers which is as many or more than some of the largest hotels here in san francisco. as our bidders' circuit -- visitors are getting off the ship, they will land here at the pier gateway of one of the greatest cities in the world. stand here and think, what would be like to be a first-time visitor to san francisco? you get to see the gorgeous bay, bay bridge, alcatraz, and as you turn around, the coit tower and transamerica building. it does not get much better than that. we are really excited and we thank you for your effort. when this project is complete, where all of you are standing will be a 2.5 acre park. it has been planned for over 20 years, so it is very gratifying to be able to move forward on

the long-awaited project. thanks to the influence of our partners at the america's cup, at the end of the pier is another new plaza where you will have about 270 degree views, your first use of the ac-72's as they start and finish here. cruise terminals are an interesting facility in that they are designed to be vacant as much as they are designed to be fully impacted. one day it is overflowing and the next day there is nobody here. with the help of our blue ribbon committee and partners at san francisco travel, we also designed this area to accommodate the events. we are very proud that our first event here at the pier 27 cruise terminal will be christened by

the 34th america's cup as part of the america's cup village. i just want to say thank you again to stephen barkley, larry ellison, for your vision and dedication and partnership for a lot of us to host this year and leave a tremendous legacy for this city and neighborhood. it is my honor to again thank you and all the generations that will be able to participate in your work. i hope you will come back many times and i hope one of those times you will actually be a passenger, so welcome, everybody. now it is my honor to introduce a man who needs no introduction, our very own mayor, the honorable ed lee. as you may recall, the mayor has a 17-point jobs plan. we have heard a lot about how he is doing on that plan because it

seems weekly he is welcoming a new business to san francisco, and i think it is important that we have a city and mayor embracing people coming into the city, including our visitors. our cruise lines are very appreciative of having the mayor himself be part of that. mr. mayor, this cruise terminal hits 16 of your 17 points. it tracks and grow jobs, it hires san franciscans, it invests in infrastructure jobs, it invests in transportation, and it expands tourism and international trade and creates financial stability. it will be named after the late james firman, president of the ilwu, as well as the port commission, most famous and our commission for spending well over one hour of a commission hearing chastising the court staff and other commissioners for not making maritime jobs be

the cornerstone of our ports. it is really terrific that you are doing that. i know he would be extraordinarily proud of you. without further ado, please welcome mayor ed lee. >> thank you, monique. thank you for recognizing all of the partners that have been part of this. i would like to reiterate my appreciation to monique, her staff, the partnership with the port commission, their willingness to share in the leadership of this with so many agencies, dpw, the rest of the city, in building the consensus implementation phase of this. i also want to reiterate my appreciation. we have talked long and hard about what benefits the america's cup would bring to the city. this is one of the great opportunities where the physical aspect of that promise