today to honor us. mayor lee? [ applause ] >> thank you, first of all let me tell you how i'm excited about being here. i always get excite when i come here. i want to signal my appraise for the board of trustees. you just did a marvelous job time and time again with the board of trustees to keep the confidence not only in this honor but our cultural view in general. i just came back from paris toond -- and to let you know, last time i was in paris i was a high school student. now to be introduced to mayor, he's an

arts expert, so kudos to the board of trust cease, -- the staff, to all of the members and would be members, quickly get your admissions into this because it's going to continue being great. many of you know i work hard for the city. i have always worked hard for the st e but one of the reasons i do is because so many others work so hard for the city. i can't see more reflected for the city. the factor why we are a number of world destinations to come to whether it paris or china, the golden gate park, the legion of honor, this very exhibit that we are doing now with the girl with the pearl

earning is just drawing wonderful crowds. last year, it drew 1.6 million visitors. that's an incredible number. then to add to that, both museums combined together service over 250,000 children and families. this is an incredible part of what our city is. i know that you know i have been working hard to attract different businesses, create more jobs in the city, provide more housing, all in an effort to make the city more successful but i will always say, that as people like you and the board of trustees that provide us with a reason why the work hard to keep this city great as an international city to make sure we do all the things because arts, oftentimes when you talk to the employees of all the technology companies that i have been talking with every week and ask them what draws their talent to a city,

the first three things they know whether it's public transportation, it's also the arts. because that's what keeps their creative mind functioning. and it's these institutions with their wonderful service and their continuing exhibitions, world renown exhibitions that introduce and keep their minds active and keeps the tremendous amounts of visitors coming to our city. i know how difficult it has been for board and for the president to make quick search, to matchup the right person with such an incredible institution as these are. i for one, know how difficult it is and when you are trying to do that when you are running government, i want to also say to the staff that i enjoyed mr. buchannon's leadershipa as much as you do, to fill those shoes

with mr. bailey i'm excited because i trust the board of trustees, the time you took to select him, i'm going to welcome mr. bailey and look forward to and excited to do it. this city is on such a great recovery economically for everybody that there is going to be even that many more families that are going to enjoy the institutions that we have here. so on that background and with that effort, i just want to congratulate the board again, thank you to the staff. i know that the attendance is going to continue increasing. i know the contributions to not only art but just to the way we live in our city is going to continue because of this institution, the institutions that you are in charge of. so i'm here to

just be a part of this experience, to welcome mr. bailey but to also know that your mayor is looking out and being a part of this institution and i want you to know that i am very happy to be a part of the boards effort and staff's effort to continue this great institution and all the wonderful work you do. it's my pleasure to be here and we'll continue to make all the success it has been for many many decades. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> well, thank you very much. i'm also very happy to say that on march 12th, we had our millionth visitor of our fiscal year that doesn't finish until june 30. i think we'll have

another record breaking year. all of our wonderful shows this year and exhibitions are doing very very well. so a week ago wednesday, we had over 13,000 visitors in this museum. so we are really on a roll as the mayor said and we look forward to many many more successes and with collin as our new leader, i know he's going to come up with some wonderful exhibitions. we are now going to have a videotape which someone is going to create. is that correct? >> [film] i always say that our

search was the same to raise or persona intellectually and to my selection committee, what we have to do is find the finest person there is and i think we have been able to do that. >> after an exhaustive international search the board of trustees selected collin bailey. >> when i was in the indemnity panel. i was wondering how is it they have these shows? i was very impressed with this energy and really didn't quite understand how this had happened but could see it had happened.

>> after the tragedy death of our director. we had to figure out how to reinvent ourselves and go to the next level. we found the right person to be to say he's of that stature, is a really a great thing for us. they know your name and they will google you and i can't wait until they do. >> you will find he studied at the post in malibu, the kendall in fort worth and he's been awarded the prize for best art history book. >> i don't want to get bound up with one approach. i want to go back to a very fundamental obligation of the museum which is to conserve, to show, to communicate and educate. a museum is a place of enlightenment anden enjoyment.

both of those are important. >> dr. bailey has been deputy director and chief -- i can feel comfortable with and admire and to be honest, the fact that the fine arts museums of san francisco, in a way are the moment in one and serve like as that for this vibrant community. i'm really excited. i know there is lots of support. what's so exciting in the visits i have made to san francisco is how welcome you feel. that sense of a home, of a place, regardless of size, is

very important. and it was thrilling to me to see that there is already suchen enthusiasm for the audience. >> he's talking about the art itself. just listen to the way he enters these works from -- >> who was the goddess of fertility of flowers, of spring, it brings in the regeneration, if you like and this is a fantastic painting by one of the greatest 18th century artist, at the top of his game. this is the most flamboyant, exciting paint is of this artist. and we do feel

that everything is possible. >> we can't, when we look but think of fertility and of femininity, some sense of generation. we can smell the perfume. >> to rembrandt. >> his mistress, incarcerated. he won't change the way he paints. >> some of dr. bailey's observation about his own experience with art museums. >> you have to have real commitment and belief in your vision in what you believe is right and yes you have to be flexible and malleable to a certain degree but you keep going. i think that is case of a great artist. >> we are finally led to another of the museum's great treasures by wayne tibo.

>> how happy one feels to look at these objects. a painting talks about more than what we can have, about consumerism but also about childhood pleasure. i love this artist. when i look at this, i feel happy. >> [ applause ] >> okay. we now have a brief question and answer period if anyone has any questions? no? okay. >> i have one. [inaudible] what

changes do you for see for the museum of collins coming here? >> well, i think what he'll do, first of all i think he'll take his time getting to know the museum and the staff really evaluating because especially because we have 2 museums. it's really a matter of becoming familiar with both of them, they are very different in character. i think it will take several months to getting to know all the aspects of the museums and then he'll make very serious evaluations and take a very serious look at our department and evaluate whether we have the finest people we can have and are we running the department in the best way possible and other departments as well. this is not my area of

expertise. i'm the board president, ideal with the trustees, and the deputy director runs the museums. i'm sure there will be many conversations between the deputy director and the director should he choose to keep the director, because the director has the ability to remove anyone he wishes to remove. i'm sure he won't do that right away but he will do whatever he feels will strengthen this museum. that will be up to him. i know what he'll do is what he believes is the right thing for this museum. that's why we hired him. >> about timing. i think you said the -- [inaudible] there was a meeting on march 4, so

the trustees met 2 hours before the announcement. i was wondering about the timing of that? >> the selection committee was formed a year ago january. and we met all through the year. we had 8 finalist and these people were brought in to meet with the committee. there are 13 people on the selection committee. there were a number of names that were considered, more names than the 8. we narrowed it down to 8 and then we brought them in and out of the 8 there were 3 finalist and those 3 finalist were brought in a number of times. you can imagine trying to get 13 people with lives and 8 people who are directors who are high up in museums to come in and then be anonymous when you wanted to bring them to the museums and not let the staff recognize them because they are

recognizable people with really in incredibly difficult task. you have some months where directors are running their own exhibitions and with trustees that have children out of school and it's difficult to get these people together. and that was when we are were doing the search for john buchannon as well. so finally in january, the selection committee voted to appoint collin bailey. however, we had to be in sync with his board and he was not able to inform his board until yesterday. that was the time lapse and that is why we canceled the march 14th board meeting because there was no point to have it. we had to vote to appoint him because by our charter we appoint, not elect. the selection committee

votes on it and it goes to the board and our board today voted to appoint him, both in the section of our board meeting. it was to afford him the courtesy to talk to his own board and the people he needed to talk to before we could inform our board. and that was unfortunately a time lag of about 6 weeks. and he of course wanted to give proper notice and that's why he will not be officially joining us until june 1st. >> any other questions? okay. well thank you all very much. i hope we'll see you many many times in our press conferences and our dealings with our new

director and the great success that i'm sure he will bring for the success here at the fine arts museums. thank you. [ applause ]

>> good morning, everyone. i'm tailor stafford, president and ceo of pier 39 and on behalf of our grateful water front family, it is my privilege to extend a sincere thank you to the port of san francisco for all that you have done, and continue to do to build the best water front in north america. pause plause [ applause ] >> from at&t, home from the world champion san francisco giants to the building, to the new exporatorium, and new cruise ship terminal to pier 39 and all of the restaurant and businesss in between, we are all proud to wish you, the port of san francisco a happy, 150th anniversary. today, project such as the new warriors arena establish the

port as a world class destination, due for large part to the vision of mayor ed lee and monique moyer and as well as the dedication of the port commissioners and staff. it is now my pleasure to introduce honorable ed lee, mayor of san francisco. [ applause ] >> good morning, everybody. happy birthday. i just want to make sure that you know that if you combine the ages of myself, or president chiu, and monique moyer we might get to 150 years, maybe. but i'm down here to have fun, today, get out of city hall, go to bubba gumps and make sure that i spend it with other people who love to have fun like our port commission and hers directors and the staff and the rec and parks here and i know that the fire chiefs had

to lessen her fun time and go to a three alarm fire and thank you to her for being vigilant for the city. and we would rec and park they have discovered yet another great partner to find water front open space that we can all enjoy, both in terms of getting our public to understand our bond program better, but also to create new spaces. so thank you, phil for being here as well. our port commissioners extend not to present but to past for commissioners and he knows that and i saw mike and others, because it takes generations of people to create things along the water front. it is incredibly expensive to restore a lot of our piers and monique is the first person to know that intimately and historically but we do have persons and entities that want to continue this fabulous water

front experience and to make investments, where there is jefferson street, brandon wharf and pier, 30, 32 and the exporatorium this wonderful opportunity. i want to thank, past and present port commissioners, and i see them here now. that they have earned the title of being the greatest stewarts of our water front and so thank you for your ongoing effort to do this. [ applause ] >> and the work incredibly well with the other agencies. i know that because this is pier 39 and one of the most iconic travel destinations, i understand that is why, john martin was here, because while he flies airplanes he is part of an incredible transportation center and we all know that and

we all share in that wonderful experience with being clearly, the best nation for so many, millions of people, every day. and as we do this, we reinvent and reinvest and find other reasons for people to enjoy themselves here. and those projects like the exporatorium and like the bay lights and renewed effort to create more water-base theds transportation to compliment the bridges that we build. we will create more bridges on the international level for our city. so, all of that in the context of a great anniversary, 150 years, there is going to be throughout this year, more stories to be told about what this 150 years means to our city, because, there is a lot of generations of people who came to this city, many, many years, built communities, built their small business and their livelihood and hopes and helped

us to establish the fisherman's wharf and help us to establish all of the maritime that they have created life times of reasons of why people want to continue visiting our city and we need to acknowledge all of that history. and all of it has not been easy, there have been difficult things and we have had fights over what is proper, and what is not proper, but we have always had in our sites in all of these different struggles, the success of our city, the golden gate bridge and the hope that it brings to many generations of immigrants that is what our city is built on and the honor that we have with all of our labor partners who also jimmy herman and the cruise ship terminal that they are honoring and built it through years of generations of struggle but also great celebrations that we have. and so this is wonderful year, and 150 years of history.

let's learn it all and continue to appreciating, but let's look forward to the next 150 years, because we are building the infrastructure to do that. we are laying the foundation to do that. we are creating partnerships among the agencies, but also public, private partnership to create it, because i will tell you that someone who is going to invest, $250,000 to $200 million on the piers it is an incredible to the faith that they have in the city and it is about investing confidence and why we exist in such a great wonderful city and so thank you monique and the port commission and to all of your wonderful partners and staff for working so hard with the entities like pier 39 and others who will continue to invest in the confidence here and along the water front and thank you to the labor and all of your partners thank you to all of the other agents for being

here, happy 150th anniversary, to our great city. >> thank you, we wish to continue your success. also, here with us today is the president of the board of supervisors, and the supervisor from our very own district three, david chiu. [ applause ] >> thank you, tailor. mr. mayor, if it is okay, could you and i just declare it a city holiday today so we don't have to go back to work and hang out here on pier 39? >> i want to thank all of you who are the incredible diversity of the community that is the port. the community that our water front peers and our wharfs. this is the story of our city. our port has really defined our past as i think that we all know, the first 49ers came right here to this spot to build this city, during world war ii, our military ships were

recommissioned, right here from our port. we know that our friends from labor as the mayor said, built our city, starting here with this water fort and this is the story of our city and we also know that the water front in the port defines who we are and it is amazing in 2013, if you just walk along the water front in my district, you will start at the fisherman's wharf street scape improvements and to the cruise ship terminal that we just cut the ribbon for and you walk down to the terminals and the ports where america's cup will entertain a million, international visitors within a few months. walk down a couple more blocks to piers 15, 17, where we are going to see a half a million kids come to go all the way down to what we know that will be the next site of the warrior's arena and down to the

ballpark and the water phone and the port is our city's present and it is our city story. but we also know that this is a story that is going to continue and one of the things that we love in pier 39. if you come here any day you will see the boys and girls playing with their parents who will come back a few years later as teenagers and young adults. and young men and women, flirting on the peers, dating each other, who will come back a few years later for their honeymoon, who will come back a few years later with their kids. and so, the cycle of the story of our city continues and that i know that in 50 years when we are celebrating the 200th birthday of this blai, when monique's grand daughter and ed lee's great grandson, are helping to run this city, they will look back on to the city leaders today, who are represented by all of you. and say, you know, in 2013, our city forefathers or city foremothers thought it

appropriate to invest in our port and make sure that we are building a 21st century port to last, happy birthday. thank you. >> i think that we all look forward to that moyer lee, administration. and finally, our good friend and dynamic leader, the executive director of the port of san francisco, monique moyer. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> okay, so raise your hands, how many of you would like to be me today? i am so humble and honored, what a great fortune to land my term right on the 150th year because the one thing that i will tell you about being 150 years old if you realize that your time is really short and insignificant, and if i were to dare to count how many port directors there have been before and how many there will be after it will become more of a second time, but, i get to be here with all of you and so

many of you who have been here at this water front for decades, all of you from fisherman's wharf thank you for coming today, because of you it is our water front that has evolved ahead of everywhere else in the world this is a perfect place to celebrate. because here we have a little bit of something of everything, in fisherman's wharf. it has been part of the port since its inception that is how we ate, and how we did commerce and how we paid for the fish we ate with gold but nonetheless we subsifted on fish and the agriculture that was born around the bay and san francisco to feed the miners who were farmers and to create a new economy for san francisco and haven't we brilliantly and completely made new economies and so many knew that we have to name the latest new economy of the economy of invention and creativity and isn't that what we were doing in the gold rush and so it was stunning to be