manager of the recreation and parks department. we're giving thanks to the mayor and to spur for the leadership and vision to undergo this project. we often have to respond to problems in emergencies of the day. arguably, there are a few out here, but this process has been speaking to the future. the trust for public land, an advocacy organizationñmiñ?!i, jt named san francisco as the number 1 urban park system in the united states of america. it is not just the city in the county, but our open space system which comprises 70% of all of this city's land, including the national park service in the state park system. it is so exciting to think aboutejjbkt what can be done o. we all look around. all you have to do is to a 360 loop and the word that comes to mind is potential. it is incredible and precious oceanfront open space.

and the opportunity to think about how to agree a better accessibility between our beloved golden gate park, our zoo, lake merced, some of the national parkland here, and ocean beach in the great highway is a great opportunity. thinking about new trails from a new recreational amenities that can be out here. and areasustc to highlight some of e incredible special events which already have been out here year-round, it is exciting and fun. i want to thank our partners and stakeholders and community leaders for engaging. it is rare in government that it works so well. i have all these different partners and stakeholders coming together to think and plan. the recreation department is grateful to be a part of it. thank you. [applause] thank you. >> thank you. next, at risk in committee director of the san francisco municipal transportation agency -- ed reiskin.

>> thank you. mohammed nuru after me, when i was public works director, great highway, despite its amazing location, manifested itself as a problem. the roadway was a deteriorating. ltgdh5ñwe were losing an endlese against the sand. then the roadway was literally falling into the ocean during my time at dpw. what this process has done is turn the problem into opportunity. what i see now from the transportation perspective is that, through this process, san francisco has decided we do not need a four-lane highway separating san francisco from our beautiful oceanfront, and i think that is agreed direction for us to be going as a city. we're going to turn the great highway from being a barrier to the ocean into a way for us to access the ocean, whether on foot, whether on bicycle, a weather coming on muni.

we're going to a better access to the ocean, better access to all the facilities and the park space and the zoo. it is a great step forward. i want to thank everybody who has been part of the office -- process, but most of all, the public to give us direction in shaping this vision. i am excited to actually advance the vision in see some of these tough start getting into the ground. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much, ed. we look forward to working with sfmta and the sfcta to do the technical analysis required to make this vision into the kind of implemented all projects that the city can pursue. now i want to bring up howard levitt, the director of communication for the golden gate national recreation area, one of our most important federal partners. it gives you a sense of why spur

ended up being involved, because it crosses jurisdictional boundaries, working with federal, state, and local agencies. they have been an amazing partner. welcome, howard. >> thank you very much. i am delighted to be here representing the men and women of the national park service here in san francisco. we are privileged to manage the western edge of this magnificent urban corridor, world class urban corridor. and, mayor lee, i appreciate your shout out for the importance bird. our former superintendent --on current superintendent reiterates what our former superintendent said, that it all begins with a vision. i think the ocean beach master plan constitutes a magnificent vision for this corridor. we, too, look forward to moving

on into the implementation phase and bringing some reality to this. but it has been our honor and privilege to work with ben and the excellent team at spur that he has assembled with our colleagues, from the business sector, from the cadres of wonderfully elected officials we have, our colleagues with rec and park, and public works and the other agencies here in san francisco. it has really been almost a poster child for a collaborative effort, and we're honored to have been part of it. we cannot wait to get into the exciting next phase of implementation. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much for your kind words. next, we will hear from the director of the san francisco zoo. needless to say, a critical participant and stakeholder in this process. >> thank you very much. a zebra did not escape the zoo.

it is me. [laughter] thank you for coming to this part ofz5 we are reminded that this treasure is being lost. the zoo feels it has to be part of the solution and dialogue. we have to conserve wildlife and wild things. this has to be one of our highest priorities. thank you all for coming together on this. thank you. [applause] >> thank you very much. next, we're going to hear from a couple community partners. on the issue of this not being the end, but rather, the end of the first chapter and the wanted to mention that as a result of this amazing collaborative work, and it is really this group of people and men -- many of the folks in the public as well,; been awarded over';#í funding to pursue a implementation studies and carry these ideas forward to the next level, do that technical work, doing the challenging effort of

converting the big ideas into real projects that can be implemented on the ground. with that, i want to bring up laura, 2 has been working on this in bringing these issues to the attention of -- who has been working on this and bringing these issues to the attention of the city. she was there from the beginning of the process, having already put in a decade on this. [applause] >> thank you. good morning. i am a resident and business owner out here. and one of the biggest privileges i have had is to have been involved in a very long community process, combined effort to create a sustainable future for ocean beach. we began in 1998 with mayer brown's ocean beach task force, which was a very large body of local, state, federal agencies,

community members, environmental groups, community groups, and we met for f part of what is the most proud of from that effort is creating the difference stakeholders and starting to create what i feel is a good foundation for the amazing and cooperative effort that we see today with all of our civic leaders. mayor newsom appointed the ocean beach vision council in 2007 where we continued the conversation. then in a 2009-2010, we started the spur process. i had the privilege of co- chairing the advisory committee with amy meyer,h leader, a community leader for tgnra. each of these councils still

fund the work of the former, and countless individuals and organizations submitted so much time and vision, and that has been an amazing process to be a part of. i want to thankd our civic leaders that are here today for the amazing cooperation, a vision, energy, a commitment, and support towards this process. it has been an amazing privilege to work tospur and have that opera to -- to work with;hwnmpl and have that opportunity as a lay person to be involved. the vision took all of the ever -- other efforts and brought it to the realities we're seeing today which is incredibly inspiring and very gratifying for all of us out here that are so passionate about this beach. i also want to acknowledge

former superintendent of tgnra, brian o'neill, who, as i am sure we all do, really wish to be here today to see how far we have come. he really was excited to start working with a really strong focus. i know he is here in spirit. finally, i would like to express my gratitude to all of the community members and environmental groups and organizations that have really kept this thread going in order to bring it along with all of our leaders, including san francisco's surf riders, save friends of sutro park, golden gate, audubon, a coalition that saved ocean beach, and there are

also great individuals, including bob, who was not here today, but he has-wuyurç contrin many giveaways. thank you all. thank you for being here. looking forward to the next phase. [applause] >> thank you very, very much. last but most certainly not least, we're going to hear from amy meyer. if you look up and down the speech, you look up to lands' end and you cast your mind's eye to the presidio, down the peninsula to the open spaces there, the crown jewel windows the golden gate recreational area would not exist without the efforts of amy meyer. [applause] she got interested in a small land use issue in her neighborhood, and that became give us one of the greatest depths that we could possibly imagine living here.

she has also been the honorary co-share of our planning advisory committee and a wonderful champion of this project -- co-gtjx4uechair of r planning advisory committee. >> thank you. we're going to be celebrating this year the 40th birthday ggnra. i can tell you something about its early time. that is right, this started with 12.5 acres. it is now 80,000 acres in three counties. it runs all the way almost to the top of the marin county to the middle of san mateo county. the whole idea was to take this fantastic coast and the injury of the golden gatev a national park, because that is what it deserved to be. what is so wonderful about this project, and i feel i have been privileged to work on it, as been that it is not just a matter of connecting the coast line and the environment, but

really connecting this part of our park to the city itself, making it possible so that people will be able to enjoy this place746 it needs real politician or improvement will be improved upon, and where it needs being simply retained and kept because of everything, from the threat of climate change to changes in our society, that this will happen and can happen in good form as a result of this plan that has now come to completion. this rests upon the whole -- the whole park rested upon the fact that people in this area thought this was one of the most beautiful places in the entire world, and they were determined to save it and keep it. the idea that this group here and the people who have not been able to come here today, it is an enormous number of people.

in this city and the two adjoining counties who really have worked to make this possible. so come in the fall and celebrate our birthday, because this park is one heck of a special place. thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much. i wanted to acknowledge peter from the army corps of engineers, an important federal partner. they have an incredible role to play in the future shipping7 the beach and some of the great opportunity for solution to challenges. the last group of folks to acknowledges our consultant team. nelson from transportation. sure what design engineers on the sustainability. and infrastructure. esa, pwa, bob on coastal engineering. and they are hiding in the back and deserving of special recognition, ana and her team,

ae com, who did amazing materials that translated a complicated set of circumstances into materials that conveyed the mayan a simple and accessible way to the public. thank you so much. i want to thank you all for sb÷s beautiful summer stay at ocean beach in hanging in through a lot of talking. i especially want to thank mayor lee for coming out here and his kind words of support. an incredible reception from city hall. thank you for coming. thank you to everybody who has been involved in this project from the beginning. [applause]

>> thanks for coming out this beautiful san francisco day. for those of you from out of town, it is like this every day in san franciscoúud i cannot really say that compellingly because some of our out-of-towner's are from the bay

area. i'm the director of transportation in san francisco. among other things, it gives me the honor and privilege of running our beloved muni system here in san francisco. on average weekday, that means boarding more than 700,000 people. add ac transit, bart, golden gate, and there are a lot of people that the transit agencies of the bay area are moving to get to work, to get to where they need to go every day. :::::::zoñ pae qeñ?ñ?economy here in the bay ad we feel very honored to be a part of that. but in order to move all those people and in order to move them well, we need to invest in maintaining our assets, our buses, trains, assistance to support them moving safely and efficiently through the city, and we need to make them better. we want to attract more people to transit especially as the bay

area continues to grow. we want transit to be the most effective and most reliable way for people to get around. but to make those kinds of investments requires leadership. we are very fortunate here in the bay area to have that kind of leadership. from president obama, all the g state, to our local and regional leaders, we have had the leadership we need to make that investment in transit and transportation in the bay area. we are very lucky for that and that is the reason we are here today. without further ado, i want to introduce our local leader here, san francisco mayor ed lee. >> thank you. good morning, everyone. we can do, besides what at redskin and the mta board, and all the staff have been doing,

investing in our system and making it better and better, it is to realize that our municipal system is connected to a whole regional system. this morning you see a backdrop here a lot of our partners in the region. from caltrans, sam trans, everyone that works together here locally. that is not only important to us as a city, but clearly, coming from the u.s. conference of mayors this past weekend, we realize cities across the country are looking atz!zxxf transportation systems and making sure they are connected appropriately, whether there are regional or state or federal. so we are doing the right things. whether it is connecting with top -- caltrans to make sure that high-speed rail is appropriately convicted for the

future, or in the transbay center with ac transit systems here for the r/$z" are connected with bart, or with all of the different lines, right down to the bicycle lane that people want to use. this connection is so vital to the success of any transit system, so it is that backdrop that we are part of a great announcement that i do not want to take the thunder from, but i want to welcome hereii'ó are y federal transit administrator 2 reece mcmillan to make the announcement, but i also want to announce that we are here as a t$nk/ and part of a region in total appreciation of the connectivity that our federal government want to make sure happens. there is no transit system that exists in and of itself. there have to be connections to other parts of it. that is the beauty and the investment that we make.

as ed reiskin said, i am eternally grateful to president obama, leader pelosi, senator feinstein, boxer, others who are working so diligently with us to make these connections so that we/xo other regional transit system. so with that, please welcome our deputy administrator for the federal transit authority therese mcmillan. [applause] >> thank you so much, mayor lee. before we begin with my very good news for the region, the mayor mentioned how important connections are. i would like all of us to recall another connection we have as a human community and take a moment of silence out of respect for the victims and families of the aurora, colorado tragedy that happened yesterday. thanks very much.

on behalf of transportation secretarys÷ [l$eñ lahood, i am d to be here today to announce quality public transportation in the san francisco bayyya home region, about to take another step forward. for the third year in a row, we are announcing funds to help transit agencies across the country modernize and repair their bosses and related facilities, bringing these systems into a state of repair, a commitment the san francisco bay area has had for many years. .9 transit providers together are receiving over $45 million collectively to make traveling by transit faster, more efficient, more comfortable, and safer than ever. congratulations to all of you for your commitment. the projects here in this region range from replacing old diesel buses in san francisco, san mateo, santa clara, and our

neighbors to the south in monterey. these buses have logged thousands of miles over the years, and importantly, being replaced with clean, fuel- efficient hybrid!ø vehicles but also improve the environment that we all love and respect here. as well, we will be upgrading bus service as part in the muni rapid network, so is faster than ever for commuters in ocean view and north beach to get to downtown san francisco. that is a wonderful investment as well. upgrades for ac transit and real time transit information stations at bart to improve travelers experience. to underscore the point made by ed and mayor lee, making people want to take public transit is key to improving the option that we have for traveling. these awards, over all, are a

big win for everyone because they will reduce highway congestion, improve air quality, and help the region continue to offer a balanced transportation options that increase the livability of this beautiful area. together, the state of california is receiving more than $125 million for much- needed projects of the same nature. across the country, though, altogether, we are investing $787 million for projects like this across the country, to protect and preserve transportation systems that we have already built. it is important for us, of course, to improve and expand our systems. i will be speaking a bit about progress in washington to that effect. one of the important priorities of the obama administration has been to advocate for state of repair projects that create

essential jobs and investment. we are especially pleased in that regard, that the new two- year transportation authorization that the president signed into law in early july, will continue to fund at a much higher level of the true needs- based approach to bus and rail systems to a state of repair. all of us in this administration fought hard for this bill and the many provisions to strengthen transportation across the country. iprovides $21 billion for transit capital investments that will )r put americans back to work preparing our nation's infrastructure. the bill also provides tos[ to our state and local partners flexibility to fund the most important and urgent projects without congressional earmarks. importantly, for the first

time, map 21 gives the federal transit administration oversight over transit safety, a long overdue step that will provide americans with confidence that the subways, streetcars, buses, and light rail system they ride e are working very o implement the new law as quickly as we can, and in the weeks and providing much more information and guidance to our partners and stakeholders to help people understand exactly what this all means and to get it working for you. for now, we look forward to working with all of you as we continue to invest in the transportation systems across the country and the need to grow and compete, providing opportunities that all americans deserve. thank you so much for welcoming ime home to san francisco to share this news with you. to [applause] >> thank you, mr. mayor, ms.

mcmillan. we are always happy to have you back home. we are happy to have a bay area voice in washington, especially when you are bringing such good news. feel free to come back any time. you are always welcome. the leadership i talked about takes different forms. you heard the deputy administrator talk about the map 21, reauthorization, so important to the transportation funding in this country. it would not have been possible without of leadership from the executive branch, president obama, and secretary lahood, and also support from the legislative branch. we are so lucky to have here in the bay area strong and committed leadership there, folks that understand the needs of the bay area, the importance of transportation and transit to the bay area. we are pleased to have representatives from two of our congressional leaders that represent the bay area here today.

first let me ask patti to come up on behalf of leader pelosi. [applause] >> congresswoman pelosi was honored to receive today's invitation to the announcement and regrets her duties in washington will not allow her to join us today, but she asked that i read this statement on as a transit first city, san francisco knows investing in transit is an investment in jobs, people, and community. g0z people and places it in an accessible and affordable way, it gets people to work on time and kids safely to class. transit plays a critical in our daily lives while reducing road congestion, lowering our dependence on foreign oil, and protecting our planet. is increasingly crucial that we ensure our public transit remains in a state of good

repair so that it can continue to provide safe, efficient, and reliable transportation for millions of american families. today'svfçmcãannouncement by secretary lahood and deputy transit administrator mcmillan of nearly $25 million for bart and the municipal transit agency will mean cleaner, faster muni buses and real time bus and train information at key bart stations. in@z@z demand, with less than one in five applications or did, san francisco succeeded because it was prepared to pioneer with innovative ideas, and japan real spirit, and a commitment to serve each and every citizen. thank you for being here today. [applause] >> thank you. i love the sound of cleaner, faster muni buses. as recently as a couple of months ago, it was not